X Seven
by Exodemic
Summary: This is a sequel to "Fly Paper". Scully secretly returns from the Moon to work on a genetic engineering project. Mulder, Doggett and Reyes try to find her. Cross-over fiction; some obscure characters from the Star Trek universe become an X-file.
1. Teaser

Teaser

May 4, 2005 South Pacific, 112.34 W, 41.05 S

Marine Science Research Vessel_ Floreana_ is at sea for the purpose of collecting ocean floor sea life. Operating from the_ Floreana_, the two passenger submarine_ La Senza_ is deployed and collecting samples.

Captain Peterson, the pilot of_ La Senza_, is making small course corrections according to the instructions of Dr. Lori Morgan, the mission specialist. Peterson notices a new blip on his radar display panel. "Floreana, I'm reading an obstruction at 200 yards on our current course."

The science mission command crew on_ Floreana_ is monitoring the data feeds from_ La Senza_. The mission commander looks at the high resolution radar scan from_ Floreana_. "Okay, we're seeing it from up here to."

The radio officer speaks into the microphone of his headset, "Roger, La Senza. From here it looks like an isolated feature. Advise you distance yourselves from the bottom. Clearance of 5 meters estimated if you initiate a five degree climb now."

Peterson initiates the climb. Morgan complains, "We are getting too high for the collection boom."

Peterson puts a hand on Lori's tense shoulder; she is slick with sweat. He advises, "Take five, Doctor. You are loosing a lot of fluids. We have a ledge to get over."

Lori is frustrated by the interruption in her work, but she releases her hold on the levers that control the sample collection system and then relaxes back into her seat. She opens a water bottle and drinks, gulping. The view out through her window dims. She can see that Peterson is turning all of the lights forward, towards the ledge they are approaching. Peterson keeps looking back and forth between the radar screen and the forward window. Gradually a hazy form becomes visible in their path. A warning tone starts to grow louder and the thrust gauge starts to register a reduction in thrust. Peterson casually inactivates the automated collision avoidance system and the forward propulsion returns to its previous level. "Floreana, we are at 50 yards. Visual contact."

From above, "Roger, visual contact confirmed on camera 2." Suddenly Peterson cuts the thrusters and the sub slowly drifts over the obstruction. "La Senza, we read forward thrust zero, please confirm."

Peterson wipes sweat out of his eyes and stares out the window as the object on the sea floor comes into position under the submarine. "Lori, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

She tries to look out the small front window but the angle is bad from her position. She presses a button and shifts her video monitor to the camera 2 circuit. "What the hell is that?"

Peterson replies, "According to radar, that's a perfectly circular disc with a diameter of 20 meters."

Lori shifts her video recording unit from camera 1 to camera 2. "Judging from the accumulated debris, I'd guess its been down here for thousands of years."

From_ Floreana_, "La Senza, do we have radio contact?"

Peterson shakes his head. He says to Lori, "I've seen dozens of ship wrecks. There was no ship like this thousands of years ago." Then he opens his microphone, "Floreana, communication is nominal. This is no rock outcrop down here."

Lori numbly offers, "Lava dome?" Peterson snorts derisively.

From_ Floreana_, "Roger, we have your video, Peterson. What does that look like to you?"

Lori notices a glow that seems to be coming from the mysterious object. She orders, "Kill the lights!"

Peterson finally pulls his eyes away from the window to see if Lori is serious. The sub is almost at rest and he decides it would be safe to go dark. This is a request that Lori has made repeatedly in order to photograph the light-producing organisms that are common at this depth. He kills the lights.

As their eyes adapt, they can see a ring of slowly flashing lights around the circumference of the disc. Peterson chuckles, "Okay, that's it. This must be an NSA submarine listening station."

Lori guffaws. "No. I'm telling you, this has been down here a long time. There's no way to explain this."

Peterson says, "Floreana, this is a thousand year old ship wreck with functioning lights and internal power."

The science mission commander picks up a phone and speaks, "Captain Kelly? I've got something you have to see."

Sixteen hours later the crew of the_ Floreana_ has grappled the disc and pulled it to the surface. Captain Kelly is surprised at how easy it was to raise the artifact from the sea floor. He raises his radio headset, presses one ear piece to his head and speaks into he microphone, "Detach the floatation collar." Divers in the water start to hammer at the steel clamps holding the floats to the disc. Before any of the floats are detached, the disc surges above the waves and two surprised divers leap off, diving back into the water. Captain Kelly shouts at the crane operator, "Not yet!"

The crane operator is surprised that it was so easy to hoist the disc out of the waves. He looks at a gauge and then shouts to the Captain, "The damned thing weighs less than a ton!"

The crew quickly pulls the disc onto the deck of_ Floreana_, but it is night and totally dark by the time they have the floatation collar detached and the disc secured over the main cargo hatch with steel cables. Finally, the salvaged disc rests lightly on the main cargo hold hatch, a nearly perfect fit to the width of the ship's deck. The science mission commander climbs off of the disc and speaks with the captain, "I see no obvious entry hatches."

The Captain scowls at the disc as crew members continue to scrub accumulated debris off of some of the light fixtures. "Maybe Plato knew what he was talking about. Atlantis and all that crap."

Nearby crew members laugh. The Captain orders the helmsman to head for San Diego. A guard is posted on deck and slowly the crew disperses and goes off to bed. As the Moon rises over the horizon the lights on the disc grow brighter.


	2. U2

U2

Langly is sitting in front of a computer screen, going through email addressed to The Lone Gunman. One item is from "WaWa" at "spook dot net" and is titled "satellite images". Langly opens the email and his screen fills with an image showing the deck of the _Floreana_. The circular profile of the salvaged disc is visible. He clicks on a button that says "forward" and types "fmulder" at into the "to" field and then hits "send".

May 6, 2005 3:10 am, 114.34 W 19.20 N

In the middle of the night another space ship arrives above the _Floreana_ and uses a graviton beam to lift the salvaged disc off of the deck. The mineral-encrusted disc rises gently and slides into the hold of the larger space ship. The guard watches, at first he is stunned and motionless, then he raises an alarm and the rest of the crew soon comes out on deck. First the guard then the rest of the crew is lifted up into the air and pulled into the space ship.

In the control room of the _Floreana_, the helmsman watches everything that is happening on the aft deck as shown on a video monitor. He cannot see the space ship hovering above the _Floreana_. He goes to the radio consol and puts on the headphones. He types "1650 kHz" into the keyboard and says, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is _Floreana_ out of San Diego."

Two men who look like identical twins leap out of the hold of the space ship and fall feet-first towards the _Floreana_. One lands on the narrow walkway that rings the control room; somehow what should have been a bone-shattering landing is gentle as a cat step. He opens the control room door, enters and points two fingers at the helmsman.

Out of the corner of his eye, the helmsman notices the man enter the control room. The helmsman turns and continues to talk, "Captain and crew taken off ship! Pir-"

A crystalline projectile erupts from between the two fingers of the clone, ripping into the chest of the helmsman. The helmsman springs from his chair and attacks the clone, but as soon as he grabs hold of the clone's still out-stretched arm, his legs buckle and he falls to the floor. The clone steps to the helm consol and shuts off the engines of the _Floreana_.

The other clone goes below deck and into a room that holds the video archives. He pulls open one of the drawers that line one wall of the room. Inside are neat rows of magnetic tapes. He puts pieces of plastic sheet over the two ventilation ducts in the room then opens all the tape storage drawers a crack and sets a small canister on a desk and departs. Soon the canister emits a cloud of orange acidic mist that ruins the video tapes.

The two brothers perform a quick search of the rest of the ship, find nobody else on board and then they step out on deck and are pulled back up into the space ship.

The hold of the space ship closes and the ship slips away silently into the night. Inside the hold, the two bothers are separated from the crew of the _Floreana_ by a semi-transparent barrier. One of the clones holds up a hand, "Greetings, we mean you no harm. Our only interest is the space ship you salvaged from the ocean floor."

The Captain of the _Floreana_ shouts, "You can't get away with this kind of piracy!"

The clone signals to his brother who activates a control switch on the wall. A gaseous form of their knockout drug starts to spill into the part of the hold containing the crew of the _Floreana_. "Relax and sleep. Everything will be fine." The crew members start to stagger and collapse. The two clones turn and exit from the hold.


	3. Echo

Echo

Reyes and Doggett are doing paper work in the X-Files office. Doggett is looking for something that is lost in the papers on his desk and he accidentally knocks some file folders on the floor. Doggett groans and says "I really am ready for the paperless society."

Reyes looks up from her work, sees the mess on the floor and goes to help pick up the items that went sliding out of the folders and across the floor. She says, "Maybe we should put through another request for an office assistant."

John and Monica pick up the assorted photos, reports and other items and try to figure out which folder each belongs in. "We may be 'special agents' but we are not special enough to get a secretary."

Three times in a row they each reach for the same folder and they do a funny little juggling of the folders. Monica giggles and gives up, letting John finish re-filing the last few items. "They are not called 'secretaries' anymore." She leans against John's desk and crosses her arms.

John looks up at her, "Ya, I'm just a politically incorrect flat foot. I'd use the term 'lord high master of executive file folder management' if it would get some of this drudgery off my back." He picks up the last item from the floor and stares at it. "Hey, this report is what I was looking for." Task complete he stands up, places the miss-filed evidence report on his desk and takes the folders to a filing cabinet. "Thanks for your help, Monica. I guess I should not complain, and should be grateful for what I do have. I hate to think how really awful this job would be without you here to share in the glory of endless paperwork."

Monica says without conviction, "You're a luck man, John." Taken out of the routine of report writing, a thought about her abduction by the clones surfaces in her mind. Monica can almost hear Dana's voice, trying to communicate something of great importance….but the meaning is illusive. Cascading echoes of her abduction experience suddenly clog her thoughts and generate a demoralizing dysphoria.

Doggett closes the file cabinet drawer and carries one remaining folder back towards his desk. He starts to speak but stops and watches Monica. She suddenly seems a million miles away. Or at least a quarter million. During the past month she has continued having flashbacks and dreams concerning the events during her abduction. She has become increasingly persistent in her belief that the group of abductees was taken to the Moon. Doggett at first had dismissed the idea, but he had since heard the same from Mulder.

Doggett has a little flashback of his own, the sight of the clone's head rupturing and the wall behind suddenly turning glittery with the light of reflected red neon. John briefly closes his eyes and shakes his head, trying to free himself of the hauntingly tactile memory of collapsing helplessly as the clone's drug entered his brain. He opens his eyes and drinks in the sight of Monica. He wonders what she is thinking as she stares unseeingly in the direction of his chest. He leans close to Monica's face and blows a little puff of air onto her forehead. She is startled out of her daydream. John asks, "Am I lucky or just trigger happy?" He moves on over to another filing cabinet in order to file one last folder.

Monica tries to regain a sense of good spirits by sheer will. "We have to put the past behind us. I have to trust that Scully knows what she is doing." She stands up straight and takes several slow and sauntering steps over to John. He closes the file cabinet drawer, turns and finds himself toe-to-toe with Reyes. Slowly she rises up on her toes and looks him in the eye, "And you, Mr. Doggett have to trust your instincts. Nobody has questioned your shooting of that clone."

He looks pleadingly into her eyes, "But Monica, think what we might have learned if I had just wounded him and we could have questioned him. Or maybe we could have done a trade for Scully."

She slowly shakes her head and lets her heels sink back to the floor. "What would you do, call the Moon and say, 'we seem to have misplaced a former FBI agent, care to swap?' Drop it, John, and move on. It should be your instinct to go after these aliens with a head shot. We know that might be the only chance of stopping them."

The idea of needlessly killing anyone, and the clone in particular, still causes strong revulsion in Doggett. "The problem is, based on the autopsy and from what you and the other abductees reported, these clones are not aliens."

Monica wrinkles her forehead, "I don't know John. This whole run-in with the clones is all too fuzzy now. They may have brain washed us into believing that they are not alien."

"Are you suggesting that the autopsy results were faked?" He shakes his head emphatically. "That guy I killed was as human as we are. I did not have to kill him."

"Even if those clones were human, they might be agents for aliens." Monica resists an impulse to grab John by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. She realizes that she is not going to win this staring contest with John. She backs down, turns around and goes and sits down at her desk.

Reyes looks at the papers on her desk and takes stock of her progress on the day's work. She looks at Doggett and sees him flipping through and scowling at the once lost but now found report. Monica tries to cheer John with a change of subject and some flippancy. "We could have some fun with this. I could nominate you for FBI office assistant of the month."

Doggett chuckles. "You'd just get us farther onto the bad side of the executive staff."

Reyes gets really mischievous, "Or we could have some sort of contest where the winner does get to have an office assistant for a month. If you win, I have to do all of the paper work for a whole month."

Doggett says, "Why do I think you are planning a contest that you are sure to win? Anyhow, even if I did win it would be no good." He pretends to read the report and says no more.

Monica waits a moment to see if he will explain, then she asks, "Why not?"

John looks up from the report, "I couldn't go even a day watching you do all the paper work while I slacked off."

Reyes is glad that they have again broken the gloomy spell cast by the loss of Dana. The office phone rings. Doggett picks up, "Hello."

It is Assistant Director Skinner's office assistant calling. "John, quick question," For an instant Doggett wonders if the all-knowing league of office assistants is going to come down on him for his mocking of their title. "Can you and Monica come to a meeting?"

Doggett is ready to do anything to put an end to the paper work. "Sure. I mean, when is the meeting?"

"Right now. Conference room 1. Skinner is putting together an emergency task force."

"We're on our way." Doggett slams down the phone and grabs Monica's hand as he rushes past her desk. "Come on, something has come up."

Agents Doggett and Reyes open the door to the conference room and twenty pair of eyes turn to them from the gloom. The lights are low and an image of the _Floreana_ is projected onto a screen at the far end of the room. Skinner turns and says, "Come in, Doggett. Reyes. I thought you should hear this. Agent Geer, do a thirty second recap, then continue your briefing." John and Monica sit on a small bench in a corner of the room.

Agent Geer is standing at the far end of the conference table. She points with a laser pointer at the circular disc on the deck of the _Floreana_ that is easily visible in the black and white image projected on the big screen. "This is a satellite image of the artifact that was raised from the floor of the Pacific. The salvage team reported that it was glowing with self-generated lights and had an anomalously low mass for an object of this size."

She advances to the next image which shows a color aerial view of a Coast Guard cutter alongside the _Floreana_. The salvaged disc is gone, and a military VTOL aircraft rests on the cargo hatch which had previously been under the salvaged disc. "The Floreana was returning to its home port with the artifact, then it was attacked by pirates. The entire crew, except one man, is now missing. The salvaged disc is gone."

Geer turns the room lights back up half way. "This is the recording of the mayday that was transmitted by the one crewman found on board."

They hear, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Floreana, out of San Diego. The guard sounded the alarm and when I looked, the artifact was gone! Then everyone started floating off the ship! Just drifting right off the deck! Captain and crew taken off ship! Pir-" There is a loud clatter in the recording, some faint noises then silence.

Geer explains, "The crewman who made the distress call was the only person left on board. Analysis of the recording shows that low frequency noise from the engines cut off soon after the crewman was silenced in the middle of his mayday message." Geer shows the next image, a close up of a wound on a man's chest. "He was incapacitated by some sort of drug, introduced into his body by a glass projectile."

Reyes says, "Analysis will show that it is plastic, not glass. A biodegradable plastic that will leave no permanent residue."

Geer asks, "You've seen this sort of wound before?"

Reyes is ready to reply but Skinner silences her with a glance. Skinner stands up and walks around the length of the conference table to stand beside Geer. "Let me re-cap, since I misjudged this case from the start. Certain terrorist groups have become very active in open sea piracy. Initial indications were that the Floreana had salvaged some archeological artifact or maybe a piece of lost military hardware. I now think these explanations unlikely. This case increasingly resembles several past X-file cases..."

"Geer interrupts, "Sir, you already put me in charge of this case."

Skinner heaves a deep sigh and pauses before replying, letting his ire at having been interrupted dissipate. He has long experience with the rush of excitement and possessiveness experienced by agents given their first major task force to run. "And you remain in charge, Agent Geer." Skinner realizes that he is grateful that Geer interrupted him. He really does not want to get into a discussion of X-files.

Skinner tries to bolster the group's focus on a conventional piracy investigation. "This is a large, high priority investigation and it is going to take team work- all of the resources we have. Agents Reyes and Doggett filed a fifty page report on this type of wound last week. I'll summarize. This type of wound is produced by a crystal projectile that carries a potent neuroactive drug, inducing unconsciousness in less than ten seconds. This type of projectile has been used sporadically all over the world during the past thirty five years. The CIA thinks that the drug was developed in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The plastic is similar to certain polymers created by a French chemist in the 1950's, but never commercialized because of their unstable chemical structures." Skinner turns control of the meeting back to Geer who proceeds to set the task force into action along the lines of a piracy investigation with possible ties to international terrorists.

When Geer ends the meeting, Skinner signals for Doggett and Reyes to follow him back to his office. Just inside the door, Skinner stops and huddles with John and Monica. "Guess where you are headed?"

Monica and John both say, "San Diego?"

Skinner nods and grins. "The one remaining crewman from the Floreana has been taken to the Naval Air Station Hospital there. He's in exactly the same drug-induced coma that John was in for two days. I want you there when he wakes up."

John says, "He is not going to remember much. I only retained a few flashes of memory from the 20 minutes prior to being injected with that drug."

Skinner shrugs. "Do the best you can. Try to confirm if he was shot by one of the clone brothers that carried out Scully's abduction."

Hearing Skinner talk about Scully and the clones sends a shiver up Monica's back. She is rocked by a nightmare-like doubt about Skinner's intentions with respect to Scully. She blurts out, "Sir, are you telling us everything you know about Scully?"

Skinner is surprised by Monica's outburst and stops just before speaking, leaving his mouth hanging open. John is surprised too and he says, "Monica, what are you implying?"

Reyes has a severe sensation of vertigo and stumbles to a chair. She starts to sweat and her respiration is deep and fast. Doggett takes her pulse at her neck and Skinner brings a cup of water. Doggett takes the cup and presses it to Monica's lips. She takes a sip of water then grabs the cup and pours its contents over her scalp and face. Skinner thinks she's having a heart attack and opens the door and starts to shout orders to his assistant, "Medical emergency, call..."

Doggett shouts at Skinner. "No! Wait, she's okay!"

Skinner looks at Monica, "Are you okay? Can you talk?"

Monica nods and replies, "I'm okay. It was some sort of anxiety attack."

Skinner turns back to his assistant, "Have Dr. Josselsen call me." He closes the door again and pulls a chair up next to Reyes.

Doggett takes that chair and continues holding Monica's hands in his. She is still sweating but her hands feel stone cold.

With clear exasperation Skinner pulls over yet another chair and sits down with Reyes and Doggett. "What the hell is going on?"

Reyes shakes a drop of water off the tip of her nose. "I'll be fine, sir."

Doggett says, "Shut up, Monica. She's not fine. She's been dealing with all sorts of strange shit for the past month. Nightmares. Flashbacks."

Skinner says to Reyes, "You've been having these panic attacks for a month and not reporting them?"

Reyes sighs deeply. "No. I've never felt what I just felt. Sir, I had this, I." She tries again. "I knew you were not telling us everything you know about Scully's abduction."

John squeezes Monica's hands, "Monica, do you want to force Skinner to put you on medical leave? There's no-"

Skinner puts a hand on John's shoulder. "No, John. She knows what she is talking about. I don't know how she knows, but she's right. But I can't tell you what I know." Skinner has taken a business card out of his wallet and is writing on the back of it. "You are both going to have to trust that I am doing what's best for Scully."

He hands the card to John, he reads it and hands it to Monica. "Meet Jeff. Mem. 1h," is what Skinner wrote on the card. Skinner keeps talking while they read, "As long as you are physically and mentally fit, Agent Reyes, I need you to get out to San Diego."

Reyes looks up from the card and nods to Skinner. Doggett helps Reyes get to her feet and half carries her out of Skinner's office as she tries to fight off remaining dizziness.

One hour later Reyes and Doggett have booked a flight to San Diego and are on their way to National Airport. They meet Skinner at the Jefferson Memorial and move off to a peripheral area, away from the tourists. Reyes and Doggett wait for Skinner to speak. Finally he says, "After John shot that clone, I got a phone call from his brother."

Doggett asks, "One of the clones called you by phone?"

Skinner hangs his head. "I made a deal. The clone said that everyone who had been abducted would be safe if I kept what I knew about Dana's branched DNA to myself. I accepted the deal."

Reyes slaps Skinner's face and screams, "You gave them Scully? You bastard!"

Some tourists are starring at the FBI agents. Doggett takes out his badge and holds it up towards the tourists. "FBI. Everything is under control." He grabs Reyes arm and pulls her over into a dark alcove of the memorial's structure.

Skinner follows along but says nothing. Reyes figures she didn't hit Skinner hard enough. She winds up to really slug him, but John puts her in a bear hug. "Hold on now, Monica! Let him finish!" Then he demands of Skinner, "Is that it? Is that all you have to say?"

Skinner straightens his back and lifts his head. "I assumed Scully would be back. I..." His voice breaks.

Reyes can see tears in Skinner's eyes and she stops straining against Doggett's restraint. She takes one of Skinner's hands in both of hers. "I'm sorry."

Skinner shakes his head, "You are right. It was wrong to make the deal. We never deal with terrorists."

Doggett says, "Don't try to be cute. We are not dealing with terrorists here."

Skinner, sneering, asks Doggett, "What are we dealing with here? Can you tell me that?"

Doggett fires back, "Then name the terrorist organization behind this! You know this is an honest-to-God X-file. Standard FBI rules do not apply."

Reyes does not want Skinner and Doggett getting into a pissing match. She tries to diffuse the cloud of testosterone. "Look, I was there with Dana. She wanted to stay. I'm sure of that now."

Doggett thinks she is just trying to take some of the weight off of Skinner and John is not buying that. "You are not sure of anything. Your memory was turned inside out by those clones."

Reyes looks Doggett in the eye and says, "I know what I know, John"

Doggett smirks, "Ya, right. You know only what those clones programmed into your brain."

Skinner cuts off their bickering. "This is pointless. Either you trust me or you don't. I say," He pauses, "You have no choice. In any case, I'm counting on you two. I can count on you two?"

Reyes and Doggett both say "yes." Skinner turns and walks away.

Reyes takes hold of Doggett's hand, "Come on, hurry, we're going to miss our flight."


	4. Brave New World

Brave New World

May 10, 2005

Scully looks at herself in the mirror and thinks, "My butt has not looked this good for twenty years." With the low gravity of the Moon, her body has been reshaping itself for the past month, under the guidance of the amazing nutraceuticals available on the Moon. Scully had been worried about bone and muscle atrophy that should occur in people living under the low gravity conditions of the Moon. She has learned that those problems were routinely averted by a cocktail of drugs that stimulate bone and muscle strength. After a month of taking these drugs, Dana has never felt more fit than she does now. She looks at her rippling muscles in the mirror.

Dana chuckles to herself. Month. She realizes that she has orbited the Earth once now and wonders where the time has gone. She leaps high in the air, almost hits her head on the high ceiling, and completes a half dozen axial rotations before landing on the floor. She has been like a kid in a toy store, learning about the high tech gizmos known to the Lunatics and adapting well to life on the Moon.

Scully now has her own research lab and her own house and she has been learning about the people who populate this underground Lunar city. Most of them do not concern themselves at all with Earth. Many are artists and Scully is still trying to understand the many novel art forms that are popular on the Moon but unknown to Earth. Some of these involve the sophisticated and ubiquitous computers that are natural components of everything in this world. Dana says, "Mirror, mirror, who's the fairest?"

The computer-generated personality that is an integral part of her dressing room replies, "Current dating service polls rank Jenni Detrin of South Park as the fairest of them all."

Scully titters and can't resist a peek. "Show me a picture of her." A holographic projection of Jenni Detrin appears beside Scully. Jenni looks to be in her late teens and is shown wearing what looks like some kind of uniform; by Earth standards maybe a stewardess uniform for a 1950's airline. Scully knows that this is a popular current fashion for the Lunar city's young ladies. The holographic image says, "Hello, Dana."

Dana is still a bit nervous talking to such simulations. "You are cute. Do you have a boy friend?"

Another projected simulation appears beside Jenni: a young man with cheerful good looks. The simulated Jenni says, "This is Rani Umahrto, my current partner." Then unexpectedly, "Hey, I saw you on the '''Earth Report'''. You're a new immigrant!"

Scully has learned that not many people come up from Earth and get to integrate into Lunar society. As one of these select few, Dana is a minor celebrity. The Rani simulation asks, "How are you adapting to life on the Moon?"

Scully realizes that she is a little irked with herself for being so happy on the Moon. Whole days now go by with hardly a thought of Earth; she has been too busy learning about the amazing advanced medical knowledge available on the Moon. Dana has been trying to formulate a plan that would eventually get her back to Earth so she could share some of what she has learned.

The Jenni simulation asks, "Did you leave someone special behind on Earth?"

Scully shouts at the dressing room computer, "Shut them off!"

The simulation images evaporate. The dressing room computer says, "They're just simulations. No point in getting mad at them."

Scully finishes getting dressed. "What about you? Are you just one of these simulated personalities?"

The voice of the dressing room computer sounds hurt. "I'm an autonomous mind. I'm pleased to be your dressing room expert."

Scully leaves the dressing room, walks through her luxurious bedroom, down a hall, down a flight of stairs, down another hall and into the living room of her house. What looks like Mulder is sitting in a chair watching a holographic simulation of a baseball game and drinking a beer. Scully thinks to herself- this has got to be the biggest mistake of my life.

The Mulder robot springs to his feet, turns his baseball cap around to point backwards and sweeps Scully up in his arms. She thinks- well, he is a great kisser. She pushes her way free from the robot's grasp and says, "I'm going out," and turns to leave.

The Mulder robot says, "Why don't you ever take me out?"

Scully stops in her tracks and slowly turns around. "I can't believe you said that."

The robot shrugs. "I could make you very happy, Dana."

Dana looks at the ring on her right index finger and twists a small lever protruding from it. The Mulder robot shuts off and remains standing, frozen in place. Dana looks at the Mulder robot and wonders why she has never been able to correctly shape its nose. She speaks to the room computer, "I want this thing gone when I get back. And if I ever start talking about making another, remind me how much I came to hate this one." She turns and strides out the front door of her house and up her front stairs.

Dana lives in a part of the underground city known as Aventine. The individual dwellings are mostly under the ground level. The ground level resembles a garden with paths for walking. Dana reaches the top of her stairs and passes through the outer door. She looks up at the simulated sky, is briefly shocked and remembers that today it is pink. Every day the residents can vote for the sky color of the day. Scully is still having a bit of trouble getting used to a sky that is a different color in each of the interconnected domes of the city.

Dana starts to skip down a path and soon each leap sends her flying high into the air. The sensation of near-flight that is possible on the Moon is possibly her favorite part of living here. As her spirits lift with each leap she tells herself that she was correct, as a scientist, to experiment with the available robots. But she has learned that it is a mistake to try to simulate a real person. Rather than satisfy a longing, it just magnifies the absence.

She reaches the entrance to the local Lezaro and enters by going down the stairs. Scully has learned that most of the many habitation domes of the city have a Lezaro, a sort of combination art gallery and bar. She goes to the section of the Lezaro that resembles a sidewalk cafe, or maybe what a sidewalk cafe might be like on Titan. A robot worker shows her to her favorite table and takes her order.

Scully looks around and recognizes many of the patrons. Her eyes keep drifting back to a new woman who seems to be watching Dana. Dana judges the woman to be approximately 30 years old, but she has learned that many anti-aging technologies are used on the Moon and residents are often much older than they look. The robot brings Dana her meal and inclines its head towards the woman who has been glancing at Dana. The robot says, "Her name is Roberta Lincoln, and she would like to join you for dinner."

Rather than just glancing, Dana now stares at the woman. They exchange small nods of their heads. Dana decides that the women chooses to show the world a rather conventional good looks, somewhat out of fashion for this Lunar city where all manner of exotic personal looks are crafted and displayed by the residents. Dana tells the robot, "Very well, invite her over."

Roberta comes over to Scully's table and introduces herself to Dana. The robot brings Roberta's dinner over and the two women settle down to eating. The first thing Roberta does is drop her spoon on the floor. The robot server is there instantly with a new spoon. Dana asks, "You do not seem to from around here, are you from Earth?"

Roberta dribbles some soup down her chin and nods, "Yes, that's why I want to talk to you. I was told that you are also a recent immigrant." Dana is intrigued by the sound of Roberta's voice- it could be that of a teenager.

Scully says, "I prefer the term 'visitor', I never agreed to stay here forever." Dana plops another shrimp in her mouth. She has learned that most of the food is some sort of synthetic combination of bacteria and insect ingredients, but she does not care, it smells, tastes, and crunches wonderfully. Dana has to admit that she will miss the food when she returns to Earth.

Roberta picks up the huge crystal cylinder holding her blueberry milk shake, puts it to her lips, guzzles some down, and looks at Scully without removing the pale blue milk mustache from her upper lip. "The longer you stay the harder it will be to ever go back. Do you ever think about going back? I do all the time. Sure, it is fun here, and these robots are wild! I mean, I wonder if I'll ever find a real man who can do it half as good. But still, I just have to get back to Earth." After that machine gun-speed prattle Roberta falls silent and rests her chin in the palm of one hand and looks at Dana with what strikes Scully as contrived gravity. Roberta's thin pink tongue makes half a dozen sorties out to clear the cream off of her lip, seemingly without Roberta being consciously aware of it. Dana can't keep from laughing. Roberta asks, "What's so funny?"

Dana tries to explain, "You are looking at me like I'm a laboratory specimen."

Roberta grins and now tries to treat Scully like an old friend. "Yes, I'm a scientist like you. We have much in common. I feel like I can read your mind, like I know you very well, Dana." She extends her index finger along side her delicate nose and tilts her head to one side, "But I need to know if I can really trust you."

Scully sits back and sips her wine. She is vastly amused by Roberta. Scully can't remember ever having met a scientist who seemed so- ditsy. Scully tries to rewind and start the conversation over. "How did you come to be here on the Moon?"

Roberta proceeds to tell Dana her life story. Half an hour later Dana needs to pee and Roberta is just getting into telling the story of her college years. Roberta pauses to take a huge bite of chocolate cream pie, giving Dana a chance to ask, "But Roberta, what brought you to the Moon?"

Roberta takes a sip of coffee and seems to realize how far she has wondered from where even she wanted the conversation to go. Dana wonders- is she blushing? Roberta collects her wits, such as they are, and asks, "Do you follow the Earth News?"

This is an around the clock news service that never really mentions Earth. It covers what might be called Earth-related gossip and works of art that purport to depict the culture of Earth- almost entirely fantasy concoctions by Lunar residents. The Earth News also tries to intrude in the personal lives of new immigrants from Earth and report on how the adapt to life on the Moon; thus the 'Earth Report', mentioned earlier by Jenni. "I've seen it and find it shallow and offensive."

Roberta giggles like a school girl. After thirty seconds she has regained enough control to talk again. "I'd love to hear them report that comment on the Earth News. Dana, you simply must give them an interview and slip that in." Roberta laughs again, dabs a small tear from her eye and asks, "What was I saying?"

Dana pleads, "Can you tell me how you came to be here on the Moon?"

Roberta replies, "Surely you know. It has dominated the news for the past week. I've seen myself on Earth News half a dozen times. The Floreana?" Dana looks at Roberta blankly. Roberta repeats herself with a jiggly shaking of her head, "The Floreaaaaanaaaaa?"

Scully is clueless. "Is that some sort of flower?"

Roberta throws her hands up in the air. "Really, Dana, you must have heard. The marine research ship Floreana? We were all brought up here together, the crew, all of the research staff."

Dana says, "Oooooh. Ya." Dana vaguely remembers having heard that a large group of people had been briefly brought up from Earth for memory restructuring. "I think I did hear something about that. I thought the crew was sent back to Earth?"

Roberta reaches across the table and puts a hand on top of Dana's. "They were. Everybody went back, except me."

Dana had long felt Roberta's story was heading towards this. Scully says, "Then we really do have something in common. But tell me, why you? Why did everyone go back except you?"

Roberta squeezes Dana's hand and says, "Maybe you can help explain it. I'm a marine biologist, so I do not understand what they told me, but they said that I'm a carrier of some virus, an alien virus, and they do not want me to go back to Earth."

Dana's head swirls with possibilities. Immediately she want to bring Roberta into her laboratory for some tests, but Dana tells herself to slow down and be sure of the facts. "What sort of work were you doing on that research ship?"

Roberta winks at Dana. "If you want to call it work. Dr. Pernell just took the opportunity to have me to himself for a few weeks. His wife can be really nosy and it does get tiresome sneaking around behind her back all the time."

Dana's jaw nearly hits the table. She takes a sip of her tea and collects her thoughts. "You went along on the voyage so you could carry on an affair with a married man?"

Roberta nods. "Ya, that's the idea." Roberta notices the disapproval on Dana's face. "Hey, don't look at me like that. It was a vacation for me, alright. Anyhow, Dan, Dr. Pernell, he's been separated from his wife for five years."

Dana sighs. "So if you are a marine biologist but you were not working on that voyage, what sort of work do you do?"

Roberta explains, "I'm a taxonomist. I specialize in marine microorganism identification. I work at the same research institute with Dr. Pernell, but we're in different departments. He works on nudibranchs."

Scully asks, "Nude what?"

Roberta explains, "Nudibranchs are hermaphroditic sea slugs."

Scully now recognizes the term. Dana is surprised that Roberta can actually sound like a scientists when discussing biology. She asks, "Why did you say you have to get back to Earth? Do you have a family?"

Roberta replies, "No, I have nobody special to go back to. Dan is a fun guy, but it is clear I'll never be anything permanent for him. I think he's on a mission to sleep with every single woman at the Institute. Everyone jokes that...well, I don't want to repeat that sort of thing. Its just negative energy. Anyhow, I want to get back to my work. Its important, and nobody else can do it."

Scully is mystified by Roberta. One second she's a New Age twit and the next she's rattling off the scientific name of hermaphroditic sea slugs. Scully notices that even Roberta's tone of voice changes as she shifts between her two personalities. Scully can't imagine how Roberta could be so indispensable. Scully watches Roberta eating her way through a seemingly bottomless bowl of after dinner mints. Dana realizes that the foods are all very low calorie, but the smell of mint and the little 'sniks' of Roberta's teeth cutting through the mints is starting to make Dana feel ill. She excuses herself and empties her bladder.

Returning from the restroom, Dana finds that Roberta has finally stopped eating and is over looking at one of the props of the Lezaro, one of the robot artists that has set up a canvas and is painting Saturn as seen from a cloud-top city of Titan. Dana hears the robot say, "I lived there for a long time until the human space exploration program forced the closure of the cloud cities."

Roberta sees Scully and takes her arm. "There you are. You know, it is a bit tempting to forget about Earth. I would love to travel to another star. What a trip that would be!"

They stroll through some of the art galleries. Dana is aware that it is possible to travel to other space bases in the Solar System and even to other star systems. Dana changes the topic back to Earthly affairs. "What is it that you do that makes you indispensable?"

Roberta replies, "I'm the only living contract taxonomist for cyanobacteria in the world."

Scully is still mystified. "But what exactly do you do? I mean, why were you hired by...what Institute did you say you work for?"

"I was hired by Dr. Bernak, head of the Photobiology Department at the Chula Vista Marine Science Institute. His team is solving the global warming problem."

Dana is astounded and cannot make a connection between marine biology and global warming. She repeats, "Global warming problem."

Roberta says, "Dr. Bernak just gave me a huge raise to keep me from jumping ship and going to work for Monsanto. I'm the only reason that our team knew to test the _Prochloroflexus_ genus for carbon fixing efficiency. All of our success has grown out of that, and it was my idea."

Dana is starting to understand. She had heard the argument before. A large fraction of the global warming problem was due to rising levels of greenhouse gases like atmospheric carbon dioxide. If a way could be found to increase the rate at which photosynthetic plants and microorganisms converted atmospheric carbon dioxide to sugar, it might be possible to start lowering atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Dana asks, "What is _Prochloroflexus_?"

They are in another room of the Lezaro watching another robot artist paint a landscape. A whole side of the room is a simulated view of a Mons Olympus on Mars. The robot has just started marking in a few wisps of high clouds to accentuate its depiction of the mountain. Scully has been absently puzzling over the absurd hat that the robot is wearing; it looks like a collection of rat tails dangling from a birds nest.

Roberta walks over to the robot and yanks one of the "rat tails" off of the hat and uses it to start spraying dye onto the robot's canvas. The robot objects, speaking in the dominant language of the Lunar city, "Ye, misralo! Plekdy mas wholly!"

Roberta has made a small green blob in the sky next to Olympus Mons. She says to the robot, "You can do another one! I want to show my friend something."

The robot looks at Scully then turns back to Roberta with a low bow, and speaks in fluent English, "Go right ahead, madam! I now recognize you both as distinguished guests. Dr. Lincoln and Dr. Scully. Please, "He gestures to the canvas, "I might learn something!"

Roberta gives the robot a peck on the cheek. "You're a doll." She points to the green blob and says to Scully, "This is a typical photosynthetic bacterial cell. Very small, the whole ocean food chain is designed to make use of the energy it captures from the sun. But that energy capture depends on carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolved in the ocean."

Roberta hands the green dye dispenser back to the robot and she says, "Blue." The robot takes the green dispenser and hands Roberta one loaded with blue dye which he pulls from his hat. Roberta paints a slightly elongated blotch next to the round green one. "Some photosynthetic bacteria are bigger and live deeper in the ocean and make use of wavelengths of light that pass right through the common bacteria. When he hired me, Dr. Bernak was trying to genetically engineer such bacteria so as to make new types that would allow the capture of all the light that is normally wasted in the ocean."

Scull asks, "How much could you increase world carbon dioxide capture with such modified light-capturing bacteria?"

Roberta shrugs and hands the green dispenser back to the robot. The robot takes it and waits expectantly for her next request. The robot says, "Not much I'll bet. Most of that captured carbon dioxide will go right into the food chain as sugar and right back to carbon dioxide when the sugar is burned for fuel."

Roberta nods. "There's a robot that did not sleep through high school biology. The real trick is to sink the fixed carbon dioxide to the ocean floor as quickly as possible, before the sugar can enter the food chain."

The robot asks, "Aren't there organisms on the sea floor that would utilize the carbon, releasing it as carbon dioxide?"

Roberta smiles at the robot and turns her hand from palm up, ready for the next dye dispenser, to facing the robot. She says, "Good question! High five!"

The robot looks at her, looks at Scully, and shrugs. Having heard the robot speak she decides that despite the ambiguous visual clues, the robot is trying to simulate a male human. Scully realizes that the high five has not penetrated Lunar culture, and the robot is clueless. She steps between Roberta and the robot and gives Roberta a high five. Dana wiggles her fingers in front of the robot's face, "Five fingers. High five."

The robot produces a perfectly human chortle of mirth and gives first Scully and then Roberta a high five. Roberta looks around and realizes that a small crowd of bystanders has gathered and is watching. Scully has learned that this is the art form that residents of the Lunar city love best. Spontaneous public gatherings where artists argue and banter. She can't imagine that they are going to want to hear Roberta discussing global warming and photosynthesis. Roberta seems to appreciate the audience and speaks a little louder. "What does happen to carbon that reaches the bottom of the ocean?" She looks around at the onlookers and a few give her a smile and a shrug.

One man replies, "Sedimentation?"

Roberta gives a whoop of delight and goes over to give the man a high five, which he executes a bit awkwardly but with good spirit.

Roberta is clearly playing to the whole crowd now and loving it. She explains, "Turns out that it is a bit tricky. Some parts of the sea floor have excellent conditions for forming rich sediment that efficiently traps carbon. Other parts of the sea floor efficiently release the carbon back into the water as carbon dioxide before it gets trapped in sediment." Roberta turns to Dana, "That's why Dr. Bernak was on the _Floreana_, one of his projects is to model sea floor carbon dynamics." She turns back to face the bulk of the onlookers, "But the good news is, the data seem to suggest that if you get the carbon of photosynthetic bacteria to the sea floor, most of that carbon will be trapped in sediment."

Roberta snaps her fingers at the robot artist, "So how do you get more bacteria to sink?"

The robot squints at the two bacterial cells Roberta had drawn on the canvas, takes a dye dispenser from its hat and quickly sketches in an excellent Paramecium, fuzzy with cilia, depicted as eating the bacteria. He says, "Maybe if you made the bacteria taste bad, they would not get eaten and they would be more likely to escape the food chain and fall to the sea floor." With great skill, the robot puts a 'yuck" face on the paramecium and gives it a lolling 'yuck' tongue. The crowd laughs and the robot gives a little bow.

Roberta applauds the robot along with the crowd. "Not a bad idea, but paramecia do not have taste buds. When I joined his research project, Dr. Bernak was trying to genetically engineer photosynthetic bacteria that would kill anything that ate them."

The crowd responds with gasps and groans. Roberta holds up a hand to quiet them, "I know, I know, that's just sooooo totally a male domination and over-kill plan, and worse, it does not work. It would kill the whole aquatic ecosystem and actually result in a catastrophic loss of carbon dioxide fixing capacity, not to mention destroying the major fisheries that a huge fraction of the world population depends on for food. So this is where Dr. Lincoln comes to the rescue!"

Most of the onlookers do not know that they are being addressed by Dr. Lincoln. The Robot artist steps up on the rim of a nearby foot tall decorative flower pot and announces in a dramatic voice, "Ladies and Gentlemen, three cheers for Dr. Lincoln for coming to the rescue!"

The onlookers dutifully give a rousing, "Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!"

Roberta has a smile from ear to ear and bows repeatedly until the tittering crowd quiets again. "When I started working with Dr. Bernak's research group, I was one of the few people in the world aware of the fact that half of the carbon reaching the sea floor is in the form of one genus of photosynthetic bacteria, the little known ''Prochloroflexus'' genus. With my help, the lab soon zeroed in on _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ as the best choice for solving the global warming problem. We have spent the past three years sequencing its genome and modifying its genome to make a super carbon fixing bacterium."

Roberta holds out her hand to the robot artist and says, "Red!" She makes red streaks raining down from the Martian sky onto the flank of Olympus Mons. "_Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ is a giant filamentous photosynthetic bacterium with a thick cell wall. Such filamentous bacteria normally do poorly in the deep ocean, and tend to represent only a tiny percentage of fixed carbon in the ocean, still, because they sink so fast, they represent about half of the carbon reaching the sea floor. We are close to having a genetically modified form of _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ that we think will vastly increase carbon transport to the sea floor, allowing a net reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide. By scavenging genes from other species, we have given _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ a one week life cycle phase in which it forms loose mats right on the ocean surface where it can efficiently trap atmospheric carbon dioxide. After that one week period, the mats disintegrate and the dying filaments sink."

Roberta holds out her hands to her sides like she is waiting for applause.

A man in the crowd asks, "Won't the presence of these genetically modified bacteria alter the aquatic ecosystem, maybe catastrophically disrupting the ocean food chain?"

Roberta shrugs. "That's what we do not know yet and why I must go back to Earth. We were about to start some field tests. I expect there will need to be some modifications to our laboratory strains to make them fit into the ocean ecosystem."

The crowd applauds politely and then disperses. A few men linger to flirt with Roberta and the robot artist starts preparing a new canvas. Scully is thinking furiously about what Roberta has described and the plans that the clone brothers have for her. It occurs to Dana that she has never heard of any research on Earth aimed at doing what Roberta has described. This might be just what the clones are on the lookout for, an interventionist plot to use advanced genetic methods to solve human problems on Earth. No sooner does Scully think of the clones, when she notices one of them nearby.

He nods and smiles at her and walks over. "Hello, Dana."

Scully has learned to distinguish the clones. This one is Rupert, the one with natural leadership qualities. Scully has learned that while all of the clone brothers are unique personalities, Rupert tends to dominate policy decisions. "What are doing here, Rupert?"

Before he can answer, Roberta is at his side and then literally in his face, "Are you following me? Can't you give me one evening of peace?"

Rupert tries to be civil, "Good evening, Roberta. I understand you had a nice dinner with Dr. Scully."

Roberta is not going to give him any slack. "You worm. I'll bet you listened to every word we said."

Rupert blushes a very pretty pink. Scully asks him, "Were you listening to us, is that how you knew where to find us?"

Rupert replies, "I've never lied to you Dana, I want you to remember that."

Roberta says to Dana, "He cannot keep us here Dana." She says to Rupert, "I'm going back to Earth and I want Dana to come with me."

Rupert steps around Roberta and takes Dana's arm, "Can I talk to you, alone?"

Roberta says, "Don't do it, Dana. Don't trust him."

Dana is amazed by the change that has come over Roberta during the course of the night. Gone are any signs of bumbling and childishness. Dana is impressed that Rupert seems physically intimidated by Roberta. Dana says, "Roberta, how are you going to get to Earth? Rupert has told me that he will take me to Earth when the time is right." She pulls Rupert's hands off of her arm and asks him, "Are you really keeping Roberta here against her will?"

Rupert seems reluctant to say anything to Dana in front of Roberta, but he finally comes to a decision. "If Roberta really wants to go back, there is little I can to stop her. I thought it was not wise for her to go back to Earth because her body shows signs of having been the subject of interventionist genetic testing."

Dana asks, "Do you really intend to let me go back to Earth?"

Rupert nods. "Of course I do, Dana. But it is my hope that you will just go on special missions and then come back here, the way my brothers and I do."

Roberta says to Dana, "Don't trust him. He can't let you go back. You have been here too long. His mind manipulation technique can't erase a month of your life."

Dana waits for Rupert to deny it. He says nothing. "Well? Is that true?"

Rupert looks at Roberta like he cannot figure out how she knows so much. "Roberta, how do you know that?"

She shrugs and Dana is amazed to see the ditzy Roberta return, "Why shouldn't I know? Its common knowledge around town."

Rupert shakes his head and stares speculatively at Roberta. He turns back to Scully, "It is true that it would be very hard to erase your memory of the Moon at this point. You have been here too long and you really seem to like it here. This city is a part of you now. But we have other methods that will allow you to go to Earth."

And just as fast the hard-as-nails bitch Roberta re-emerges, "He always tells you the truth, Dana, when he bothers to tell you. Ask him what he's hiding from you now. Ask him how he would control your mind if he did let you go to Earth."

This time Rupert does not wait for Dana to ask. "Look, Dana, you know the restrictions we Observers work under. When we go to Earth we cannot risk interfering with the development of human culture. Each of us that goes down has a neural nanodevice implant that keeps us from telling anyone on Earth what they should not hear."

Dana feels a wave of heat rising up her neck and the back of her scalp. She tries to control her fury and spits her words out through stiff lips, "Were you ever going to tell me about this or were you just going to implant this mind control device, turn me into your puppet and make me do whatever you want?"

Roberta says, "He is lying to you Dana. He didn't tell you the truth. The device is already in your brain!"

Dana's knees start to shake uncontrollably? She tries to take stock of her own mind. She asks herself- am I already a puppet?

Rupert glares at Roberta then shouts at her, "Who's been telling you these things?"

Roberta says, "I'm determined to go home. It was not that hard to find someone who is going to help me go home. He told me all about you."

Rupert demands, "Who are you talking about? What is his name?"

Roberta mocks him, "What's the matter Rupert, did you listening devices fail to hear every word I said to every person I have spoken to?"

A tall, middle aged man with bushy eyebrows steps between Roberta and Rupert. "Leave her alone, Rupert, it was me."

Rupert's shoulders slump and he shakes his head. Rupert mutters, "I should have known" The tall man clears his throat and elbows Rupert. Rupert says to Dana, "Dana, this is Gary Seven. Gary, I assume you already know Dana."

Gary extends his hand to Dana and she shakes it. He says, "That's not a proper introduction, Rupert, I know of Dana but have not has the pleasure of meeting her. I am very pleased to meet you finally Dr. Scully."

Dana asks Gary, "You can take Roberta to Earth?"

Gary replies, "I have promised her that I will get her home."

"Why haven't you done so then?"

"Roberta learned about you Dana when she was looking for someone, anyone, that might help her get home. I noticed the computer search she did and got to her before she had a chance to contact you. She insisted that she have a chance to talk to you before going home."

Scully asks Roberta, "Why me?"

Roberta is back to her little teenaged girl act, "Dana, At first I just wanted help to get home. I figured there must be others like me who were being held here, and had been held here longer than I. I assume that you would want to go home just like I do. Gary told me that I was wrong about you, but I wanted to see for myself. I still do not think that this deal you have with Rupert is in your best interest. After Gary was ready to take me home I still thought I should see you, to find out if you do want to go home. Its up to you, Dana. Gary will take you, too."

Dana looks at Gary and he gives her a confirmatory nod. Rupert surprises Dana by saying, "Dana, I think you should go with Roberta."

Since Rupert is suddenly being agreeable, she asks, "Will you take this mind control device out of my head before I go?"

Rupert pleads his case, "Dana, this is a rule that has to be followed. I have no control over the matter. Everyone, every human who goes down planet must carry one of these nanodevice implants."

Dana asks, "Even you Mr. Seven? What kind of name is Seven?"

Gary laughs rather mechanically. "Where I come from it is traditional to split early embryos at the eight cell stage of embryogenesis. Just like Rupert, I was born with seven clones as siblings."

"But you are not from the Moon?"

"I'm from a nearby star system, but I'm just as human as you."

Dana asks, "Where are your seven brothers? Do you work as a team like Rupert and his brothers?"

It is getting late, approaching closing time for the Aventine Lezaro, a rather early closing time since it is in a residential dome. Gary suggests, "Let's go back to your house, Dana, so that we can finish this discussion."

Rupert says, "Dana, don't go with him, you don't know what he is."

Dana looks to Roberta, who for once is keeping quiet. Scully looks around and sees the robot artist packing up his canvases as closing time approaches. Scully steps over to the robot and asks, "Do you know who these people are?"

The robot nods. "You know that I know Dr. Lincoln. She arrived with the crew of the _Floreana_. Rupert is a well known Observer. I know he often has dealings with people like you and Roberta...new arrivals from Earth. And this distinguished gentleman is Gary Seven, an interloper from outsystem."

Gary says, "Visitor." He gives a mocking little bow. I'll show you my tourist visa if you insist."

The robot says, "Perfectly in order, I'm sure."

Gary agrees. "Perfectly."

Dana is puzzled by this little verbal dance and the thinly veiled antagonism between the robot and Gary. She has never previously seen a robot challenge a human like this. Dana asks Rupert, "Is there anything you would like to add?"

Rupert tries to sound innocent when asking, "Add to what?"

That answer of a question with a question seals it for Scully. Rupert might not lie but neither does he try to keep Scully informed. But neither can Scully trust either the mysterious interstellar traveler Mr. Gary Seven, or the changeable Roberta. Scully knows that she is going to decide for herself and for her own reasons and she is ready to go back to Earth. But she wants to keep her cards close to her chest and learn as much as she can. She quietly says, "Let's go back to my place, I have something I want to check on."

They depart the Lezaro and Scully sets a good pace along the paths to her house. They walk through a simulated night with unnaturally brilliant stars painted on the simulated sky. At the walkway leading to the entry to Scully's house, Rupert hesitates and stops. "Dana, I'll see you at your lab in the morning."

Dana is surprised that Rupert wants to take off. "You do not want to see this through?"

Rupert says, "I trust you to do what's right, Dana." He turns and departs.

Scully turns and places her palm on the door to open it. Suddenly Roberta shrieks like a child and Scully turns her head just in time to see a chunk of Gary's cheek ripped off his face. Gary leaps over the hedge that runs in front of the entry door to the stair well that leads down to Scully's house. Scully realizes that rather than go home, Rupert had followed them. He is in the bushes across the walkway where it bends around the end of the hedge. In the low light Scully sees a flash from the space between Rupert's two pointing fingers as he takes another shot at Gary. Suddenly Rupert topples over into the bushes. Scully runs to Rupert and searches him for a wound.

Gary approaches, takes one of Rupert's hands and throws the limp body over his shoulder. In the low gravity, Gary has no trouble carrying Rupert down the stairs into Scully's house. Gary dumps Rupert's body at the foot of the stairs. Scully checks Rupert's pulse and respiration then opens the second door at the bottom of the stairway and in the higher light can see blood in two places on Gary's chest. She leads him to a chair and takes his shirt off, revealing two of the crystal projectile wounds. With Roberta's and her household medical robot's help, Scully spends the next ten minutes bandaging Gary's wounds. She gets into an argument with the robot, "He needs surgery on that cheek."

The Robot says, "Trust me Dana, that medicated bandage we put on it will take care of everything."

With the blood flow stopped, Dana is able to think and remember what she has read of Lunar emergency medicine. "Nanosurgery?"

The robot nods. "Exactly. That bandage contains a nanodevice that will repair and rebuild the damaged tissue. There will not even be a scar."

Scully slumps into a chair and looks around, pleased that there is no sign of the Mulder robot. She asks Gary, "So why are you still conscious?"

Gary replies, "Rupert's drugs have no effect on me. There is a simple antidote and my nanodevice implants can synthesize it."

"What did you do to Rupert?"

"He will sleep for a while." Gary gets up and goes and retrieves Rupert, brings him in and lays him on a sofa. "When he wakes up, we will be gone."

Scully is not sure if Gary's "we" includes her. Dana notices Roberta staring at her. "Are you having second thoughts about trusting Gary?"

Roberta laughs nervously, "I've always had doubts about Gary, but I have no choice. As far as I know, I have to trust Gary if I am going to get home."

Gary sighs. "What good does it do for me to offer my assurances? If either of you do not trust me, just stay here. You can continue to deal with Rupert and his brothers."

Scully wants to keep Gary talking, give him a chance to spill some information. "You never said if you work with your brothers."

Gary stops hovering over Rupert's body and sits down, grimacing with the pain of his wounds. "My brothers and sisters lead their own lives. We were created out of love, not as tools."

Dana is intrigued, "Sisters?"

Gary explains, "Where I come from it is traditional to produce a male zygote, let it divide three times, split the embryo into eight cells, and engineer 4 of them to be female. Instant family, four boys and four girls."

Roberta says to Dana, "Is that weird or what?"

Scully asks Roberta, "Are you really ready to go to Earth?"

She leans back in her soft chair, "I'm just waiting for you to say if you want off this dead rock or not, honey."

Scully somehow feels a new bond with Gary and Roberta. She knows she should not trust her feeling for people that she has been under fire with, but since when has anyone had control over their emotions? Gary jumps to his feet and says, "Come on Roberta, this is not right. Let Dana, sleep on it. This is a big decision and there is no rush. I'll run you down to Earth and with luck Scully will join you tomorrow."

Roberta slowly gets to her feet and goes with Gary to the door. Scully decides that they are really just going to leave. She gets up and goes with them. "Okay, let's go. I'm ready." Roberta gives Dana an enthusiastic hug.

Without any further discussion, they go out the front door. Scully looks back at Rupert and sees the house robot placing a blanket over him. She closes the door and they go down another flight of stairs to the transport tube. The tube cars zip them out of the city. After a longer tube ride than Scully thought possible in the tube system, they pop out in a well lit chamber containing what looks like a Black Hawk helicopter.

Gary opens the door of the helicopter and they climb in. Scully immediately notices that they are not in a helicopter. The interior of the ship is roomy and exquisitely well appointed. By the time Scully turns to look out the window, she can see stars and the receding surface of the Moon.


	5. Baja

Baja

September 23, 2005

Scully stands waste deep in the ocean with gentle waves rising as high as her bikini top and then falling again. She has a boogie board tethered to one arm. She reaches into a box on the board and pulls out a thin vial, unscrews the top and skims it over the surface of the water. She is wearing a head set and speaks into the microphone. "Thirty-five. Surface sample." She holds the filled vial up to the blue sky and watches the swirls of _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ in the water sample.

Dana's nose, ears, cheeks, and shoulders are painted green with Sea Lettuce Sun Screen, Max SPF Skinglue. Most of her skin shows bronze, dyed by repeated applications of Liquid Tan Bahamas over the past months. Where the waves are lapping her tummy, the bright orange streaks of accumulating layers of _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ can be seen. Dana puts the screw cap on the vial, inserts the vial into a slot in the box, and closes the lid of the box.

Scully turns towards shore and heads in. Just before leaving the water she pauses, reaches down into the water and pulls out a purple star fish. After a moment she tosses the star back into the water. She sees Roberta coming up the beach, boogie board under her arm, caring a sample box. Dana pulls her board up onto the sand, takes off her headset and undoes the latches that hold her sample box to the board. Scully admires the darkly tanned body of Roberta and its contrast with her sun-bleached hair. Faint streaks of white salt highlight her skin where her sweat has quickly dried in the breeze. Like Dana, Roberta has drying _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ stuck on her body and it is particularly evident as orange stain on her white bikini.

Roberta looks out over the bay. "Dana, I do not think we need to even test these samples. This new modification clearly did the trick."

Scully cannot argue with that. For the past three days the test results had shown a steady bloom of their current version of the super carbon fixing _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_, and it was evident just by eye that today the results would be the same. Dana asks, "Do you think it might grow too well?"

Roberta scratches some of the drying bacteria off of her abdomen. "I'd be surprised. But I am a bit worried about how sticky this stuff is. I mean, what might the effect be on a ship that cruises through an ocean full of this stuff?"

Scully has been worry about all sorts of such potential problems. She says, "Ya, there is a thick ring building up on the dock pilings." Scully thinks back over the string of doubts she has suffered about this project since the day when Gary Seven had dropped Roberta and Dana off at the research field station near the mouth of the Colorado River. Dana had asked why they were not even going to check in at the Institute headquarters in Chula Vista. For a moment Scully cannot remember what Gary had said. She looks at Roberta and sees that she is still looking out into the bay.

Suddenly the memory comes back to Dana. Gary had said that field testing was starting and that the field station was where Roberta and Dana needed to be. Dana had been surprised that Roberta had not wanted to check on her house and let everyone, including the police know that she was safely back. Roberta had shocked Dana by saying that she had already called Dr. Bernak and he agreed that Roberta should go to the field station. Roberta had passed Dana off as a molecular biology consultant who Roberta was hiring to help out with the field tests.

Gary had admitted to having let Roberta make a phone call from the Moon to the Earth. Scully had briefly been upset with herself for not even imagining the possibility. But she was shortly to learn that that knowledge would have done her no good.

Roberta and Dana had arrived on Earth and found the field station staffed by two technicians recently hired from the States. There was also a housekeeper/cook (Guadalupe) and handyman (Jose), both Mexican, who lived at the field station.

Dana had been uneasy about Mexico's regulations controlling the introduction of genetically modified organisms into the sea. Roberta showed Dana a thick file full of permits granted to the field station for testing of gene modified _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_. Roberta explained to Dana that all of the modified strains could not grow without niobium. For field tests, they would release niobium into a small bay, creating a small test area where the _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ could grow.

Scully is rattled out of her chain of memories. Roberta says, "I do so love this world." She takes off her sun glasses and turns a radiant smile towards Dana.

Scully has never heard Roberta make such a grandiose statement. "It must be exciting for you to be doing something so important for the whole planet. You and Dr. Bernak will probably win a Nobel prize or something."

Roberta glances out to the horizon and then looks back at Dana. "I've had so many years of just having my own internal rewards that such thoughts do not even enter my mind. We all have to do what we think is right, don't you think? Without worrying what other people will think."

In her months of close work with Roberta, Dana has increasingly seen this philosophical side of Roberta emerging. During that time, Roberta's two personalities, which Dana now thought of as the 'beach bunny' and the 'taxonomy nerd', had seemed to fuse into a fairly normal single individual. "I value what other people think. We need to measure our ideas against those of others. We are too prone to mistakes if we go through life not having concern for what other people think."

Roberta asks calmly, "Do you think pms (_Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_) is a mistake?"

"No," Scully replies, "But I have to wonder if I am wrong about my judgment. We are dealing with a possible solution to a global problem of great complexity. Can anyone know all the implications of what we are doing?"

Roberta shrugs. "Right when Gary Seven and I first discussed this project, we talked about that. He said that there are other worlds like Earth that have faced this same challenge and that it has been shown on those worlds that this is a good sort of remedy for worlds that become dependent on fossil fuels."

On the day that she and Roberta had returned to Earth, Scully had made a vow of silence. She was sure that either Rupert or Gary would always be listening to everything she said. But with the project seemingly reaching a satisfactory conclusion, Dana felt the need to decide which side she was on. It was clear that Rupert and Gary were the two sides in a dispute, apparently a dispute that included controversy over the very nature of this _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ genetic engineering project.

Taking Rupert at his word, he had wanted to send Scully to Earth to help identify situations where interventionists were illegally assisting humans to make use of advanced extraterrestrial technology to aid human progress on Earth. Rupert had told Dana that he was counting on her to do what was right when she came to Earth. But what was right? Gary Seven was almost certainly an interventionist and supporting the _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ project. But was that wrong?

Scully had taken two actions to try to find out. First, she had collected hair follicles and other tissue from Roberta and tried to detect signs that she had been infected by an alien virus. With the conventional tools in the field station's lab, Dana could detect nothing unusual about Roberta's DNA.

Second, she had tried to talk to others on Earth about the project. Her first day back on Earth, Dana had picked up the phone in her cabin at the field station and tried to call Mulder. She could not do it. She soon discovered that while she could talk to Roberta about certain things they shared from their time on the Moon, she could not talk about any of that if there was a chance that someone else would hear. For about a week she had experimented with the nanodevice monitor that was in her brain and functioning to limit her behavior. If she made a serious effort to over-ride the device and communicate to someone about her experiences on the Moon, she became violently ill, an effect she once pushed to the brink of unconsciousness and then could never again toy with because of the pain involved.

Dana had at times been tempted to renew contacts with everyone she knew on the East Coast. She had particularly wanted to regain access to the sensitive nucleic acid detectors that the Army had developed. But given the restrictions imposed on her actions by her nanodevice implant, she had decided that if she was ever going to have a chance to learn how these Observers and Interventionists operate on Earth AND pass that information on to others such as Fox, she would have to first complete this project on her own.

It is a beautiful morning on the beach, but Dana and Roberta both know that they risk getting their water samples too hot if they leave them sitting on the beach too long. They pick up their boards and sample boxes and walk along the beach towards the field station lab. Dana asks, "Do you ever wonder if Gary Seven is monitoring our progress?"

Roberta replies, "I really do not care. I'm doing my best to make this project a success. I'll always be grateful for his help in getting me back here. That Rupert creep had no business trying to keep me on the Moon."

Scully presses her point, "But have you ever seen any indication that Gary has been helping the project in other ways, besides arranging for us to come here and do the work?"

Roberta stops walking. "You know, Dana, I've probably never said this to you, but you have been a great boost to this project. In an afternoon, you do things in the lab that would take Phil a week." Dana thinks about the limited technical abilities of Phil, the technician with some molecular biology experience. His role in the project had basically been to handle samples being shipped back and forth between the field station and Chula Vista. The original plan had been for water samples to go back to the main lab at the Institute and for new genetically engineered strains of bacteria to be sent down to the field station as needed. Almost all of the lab work was to be done in Chula Vista.

With Scully on hand, all that had changed. They were constantly using the field station's DNA sequencing machine for doing routine mutation screening. Their permit from the Mexican government stipulated that they conduct constant screening of the bacteria in the bay for signs of mutant strains that no longer required niobium for their survival. This meant collecting samples, culturing them 24 hours in the lab without niobium, then gene sequencing surviving cells and looking for mutations in their special gene that conferred niobium dependence. Doing that kind of work right at the field station was much more efficient than having to send samples back to Chula Vista. Even if shipped over-night express, _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ samples would arrive mostly dead.

They had never detected hardy strains of _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ that could grow without niobium, so what had been more important was moving materials in the other direction. The original plan had been for the main lab in Chula Vista having to genetically engineer laboratory strains of _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ then ship them to the field station where they would have to be adapted to conditions in the ocean. With Scully available at the field station, new genetic engineering vectors could be shipped to the field station. Roberta and Dana would then do the genetic engineering in holding tanks behind the field station lab, where bacteria-containing water could be pumped directly to and from the bay. Scully guessed that this change in the protocol had cut 9-12 months off of the project, allowing a half dozen rounds of tweaking the genes in the bacteria to be completed over the course of the summer.

But as useful as Scully had been, Dana was in awe of Roberta. For every problem they had encountered in improving the growth of the bacteria in the ocean, Roberta had suggested a solution. In each case, based on the phenotype of the poorly growing bacterial strain then being tested, Roberta's encyclopedic knowledge of known bacterial strains had allowed her to suggest a species of bacteria that would turn out to contain a gene that would solve the latest growth problem restricting the survival of the _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_. Scully had watched Roberta scanning through video microscopy images of bacteria from water samples, rattling off dozens of species names, and typically Roberta would notice, name and catalog a few new species found in each water sample.

Dana returns a compliment to Roberta, "Roberta, any molecular biologist could have done what I have done. You are the key person in this project. It's miraculous how you can always find a new way to solve every problem we face."

They have reached the door of the lab. They lean their boogie boards against the wall and Roberta hands Dana her water sample box. Roberta says, "Maybe, other molecular biologists could have done the work, but none from the lab in Chula Vista wanted to move down here. The true miracle was finding you on the Moon and you being available to come here and do the work that needed to be done. I'm going to go check the mail. That new vector we requested last week should be here." She turns and heads for the administrative office.

Dana asks, "Do we need it? We requested that modification before we had learned that the previous one would work so well."

Roberta stops at the outdoor shower head at the end of the lab building and starts to rinse off. "It is probably wise to have two viable strains. We do not want all of our eggs in one basket."

Dana realizes that Roberta is right. "Okay, I'll pump a new tank of bacteria in from the bay."

Roberta suggests, "We have to get used to a new protocol, Dana. Pull from storage the strain we were dealing with two weeks ago. Let's see if we can find a second way to make that sickly strain a winner."

Dana nods. "Yes, you are right. I'll thaw a frozen sample and start a ten liter culture." She opens the door to the lab and takes the new water samples inside. She is loading the tubes into the robotic miniprep processor to start mutation screening on that day's water samples. Phil appears at her side with a printout from the automated DNA sequencer. Dana says, "Good morning, Phil."

He says, "Hi, Dana." He waits for her to finish, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Dana finishes loading the samples. "What do you have there?"

Phil looks uncharacteristically nervous. "I think you know that I have been time sharing sequencers with my friend Vicky up in Chula Vista."

Dana had previously approved the practice. Phil has been spending only four days a week at the field station and spending three day weekends back in La Jolla with his girl friend Vicky. Depending on the current status of the _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_ project, there was a variable amount of sequencing work to do each week. On slow weeks, Phil had been doing sequencing runs on DNA samples sent by Vicky, who worked in another research lab. On busy weeks at the field station, Phil would send samples to Vicky and she sequenced them at her lab.

"Yesterday I got a box of samples from Vicky. Actually there were two boxes. I figured she forgot one sample and did not notice until after she had already sent off the first box. I opened both boxes and loaded all the samples into the sequencer's sample handler. I didn't think another thing about it until I saw this." He hands Scully the sequencing report he has been holding.

Scully takes one look at the sequence. It shows the characteristic gaps of branched DNA. She asks Phil, "Do you know what this is?"

He stammers, "At first I thought the sequencer had an intermittently plugged delivery tube. Maybe the gaps in the sequence indicated missing reagents in the sequencing reaction. But there were perfect sequencing runs before and after this one. And the machine would sound an alarm if reagent delivery was blocked. I've never seen anything like this."

Scully wonders what the source of the DNA sample was. "Did Vicky say what this DNA sample is supposed to be?"

"I called her as soon as I saw this. She said there were just ten samples; low priority, from some gene homology survey. I told her I had eleven samples. Then I remembered the second box. She said she only sent one box."

Dana asks to see his notes from the sequencing run. Phil brings up a page of notes on his computer. Dana can see that he had entered into the notes the code labels for each tube that was loaded into the sample handler. All the codes are the same type (The letters DF followed by a number) except one that reads "&23", the sample loaded in slot 8 of the sample handler. Scully looks at the sequence report for the branched DNA sample and sees that it was sample number 8 in yesterday's sequencing run. "Do you have the box that the lone sample came in?"

Phil shakes his head. "I've already been out to the dumpster. It's gone. Jose told me the trash was picked up at dawn this morning, as usual."

"You do not remember the label on the second box? There was no packing or shipping slip?"

Phil just shakes his head. "I took the samples out of the boxes and threw everything else in the trash. I'm sure I saw a package label from Vicky's lab, but I may not have even read the shipping label on the second box. They were both standard 4C containers."

"Scully contemplates finding where the local landfill is and searching for the box. Dana is getting quite cold in just her bikini in the cool air of the well air conditioned lab. She pulls on her lab coat over her swimming suit. "The sample tube with the sample that gave this anomalous sequence- it was labeled &23?"

Phil looks in his notes, "Not really. It looked like Greek or something. But it was hard to read. I had stuck all the tubes into an ice bucket and the label on that tube was not written with a water-resistant marking pen, so the label was almost gone by the time I tried to read it."

Roberta comes into the lab. She says to Phil, rather abruptly "Guadalupe said that she brought you two boxes yesterday."

Phil says, "Were you expecting a box?"

Roberta's skin starts to form goose bumps and Dana can see that her long hair is still shedding water down her back. Roberta looks at Scully. "I was. When it did not come yesterday, I figured it would be here today for sure. But no packages came today. It's a new DNA vector from Chula Vista."

Dana explains to Roberta, "Guadalupe brought that package to Phil yesterday. He sequenced it."

Roberta's jaw drops and she looks at Phil. "You what?"

Dana says, "Roberta, it was a mistake, the sample is gone. Call Chula Vista and have them send us more of the vector. Its going to take a day to get a bacterial culture ready for transfection, anyhow."

Phil says, "Hey, wait! I only used part of the sample." He goes to a refrigerator and rummages around. He comes back with the tube. "It had extra volume, so I kept the tube. Ever seen writing like that?" Roberta puts out her hand to take the tube, but Phil hands the tube to Scully.

By turning the plastic tube at just the right angle, Scully can see the faint remnant of lettering. It does look like some foreign script. Roberta takes the tube from Scully and says, "We can probably still use it."

Dana starts to say that she would like to do some tests on the sample, but stops herself. Roberta takes the tube and goes through the door to the culture room. Dana realizes where she has seen that kind of script before. It is resembles the script used at the Lunar city.

Phil scratches his head. "I wonder if Roberta can explain why the sequence of that sample came out so weird."

Dana says, "I doubt if Roberta would know. She's not a molecular biologist. I'll have to ask the main lab in Chula Vista if they have any ideas." Phil shrugs and goes back to his work.

Dana leaves the lab and walks towards her cabin so she can change clothes. She starts to think about the possibility of calling the Institute in Chula Vista without Roberta finding out. She opens the door to her cabin and notices that she has a head ache. After she changes her clothes she takes an Advil and returns to the lab.

Dana sits in the dark in her cabin watching out the window. Just after midnight Roberta comes out of her cabin and walks past Dana's. Dana quietly opens her door and steps out on the small porch. In the soft moonlight she can see Roberta cross the small compound of the field research station and enter the lab. The windows of the lab light up.

Dana looks around the deserted compound and decides to go sit in one of the lawn chairs that is on the wooden deck next to an out doors fireplace. The deck over-looks the beach and Scully shivers slightly in the cool shore breeze. Each Saturday night Guadalupe and Jose grill sea food and serve it on the deck. Dana stretches out on a reclining lawn chair and tries to pretend to be asleep. The stars swarm in the sky and she wonders which ones Gary Seven has visited. She puzzles over the great time that it must take to reach another star and wonders how old Gary Seven might be. Then it occurs to her that maybe there is a connection between cloning and interstellar travel.

This afternoon she had taken a frozen sample of bacteria out of the minus eighty freezer and brought the frozen cells back to life. Individual cells can be cryopreserved and then grown again. The problems with cryogenics start at the level of tissues and nobody has learned how to freeze and thaw organs and whole animals. But early embryos and zygotes can be frozen and successfully thawed. What if Gary had traveled to Earth from another star while just a frozen embryo?

Scully starts to seriously shiver in the cool night air and wishes she had brought out a blanket. She curses herself for having trusted Roberta. She thinks back to when Roberta had called Rupert a liar. "It takes one to know one." Scully tries to piece together what must have been going on right under her nose all this summer. She figures that Gary Seven has been routinely sending branched DNA gene transfer viruses to Roberta. Scully wonders if she should have tried harder to learn where the branched DNA had been shipped from.

First she had asked Guadalupe about the package that had contained the branched DNA sample. Guadalupe reported that she had signed for one package that was brought by a Fed Ex. It was easy to trace that package back to the lab where Phil's girl friend worked. The other package was brought by the regular mail carrier, but there was no associated paper work or records. Dana had reached the mail carrier by phone and he reported that he had delivered a series of similar packages over the past few months, but had hardly distinguished them from the many other packages containing the various molecular biology reagents that had been ordered by the lab. Scully asked specifically if the package had come from Chula Vista. The mail carrier thought maybe they had, but was unsure.

That evening Scully had carefully examined one of her pay checks. After Roberta had gotten Dana on payroll, Scully had opened an account at a local bank and bought some clothes so that she was able to stop borrowing things to wear from Roberta. She tried calling several numbers at the Institute in Chula Vista, including that of Dr. Bernak. The administrative offices were closed and she also got no answer from Dr. Bernak, but she spoke to a member of Dr. Bernak's lab who had never heard of Roberta Lincoln or a field station in Mexico.

Dana sees the lights of the lab blink out and Roberta come out of the lab and go back to her cabin. After five more bone chilling minutes of waiting, Dana gets up and goes into the lab. Dana has the suspicion that Roberta has been infecting bacterial cultures with viruses carrying branched DNA. She goes to the cell culture room and opens the outer insulating door of one of the incubators. Through the inner glass door, Dana sees the various tubes and flasks that contain her own cultures. She then looks in the second incubator, which she seldom uses. This second incubator is kept at the same temperature as the bay, not the optimal growth temperature for _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus_. Dana sees some cultures that must have been started by Roberta. The flasks are mysteriously labeled A, B, C, and D.

Working quickly, Dana takes samples of the contents of each of the four flasks and stores them in the freezer for later analysis. She looks through the trash looking for the tube with the Lunar script. Finding nothing, she hunts in the refrigerators. Eventually she finds a rack of tubes of the right type inside a box with Roberta's initials on it. The tubes only have a few smudges of ink on the sides and a letter of the English alphabet on the snap lid. Scully takes the tubes to a bench and shines an ultraviolet light on them. Now she can see the ghostly outline of Lunar script on the side of most of the tubes. Most of the tubes have just a few drops of liquid in them. Dana collects and saves small samples from a few of the tubes.


	6. Shadow

Shadow

Mulder talking to himself: "Most men live their whole life as a whole man; in control of their whole mind. Some men trade away a part of their mind for wealth or health or peace of mind. I've had a piece of my mind stolen from me. I want back what I once took for granted, I need to be once more in control, but each step I take to recapture what I have lost pushes me further away. In some philosophical traditions it is taught that motion only comes once complete stillness is attained. If I wait and watch will my captors forget their duty and let me slip from my bonds? If I wait too long will anything of me remain?"

The Lone Gunmen approach the door to Mulder's apartment. Frohike says, "Three, answer two, one, answer three." Langly knocks three times on the door, "Rap, rap, rap." They wait. They look at each other. Byers raises his arm to knock again, but Frohike jumps up and grabs his fist. Inside, Mulder looks through the peep hole and knocks twice on the door. Langly smiles at Byers and Frohike and knocks one more time. They hear Mulder give just two more knocks. Langly looks at Byers in horror and mouths, "Two knocks?"

Frohike shouts, "Run for it!" and takes off down the hallway. Mulder opens the door and pulls Langly inside.

Byers strolls in calmly, and says to Langly, "I told you it was 3-2-1-2."

Mulder looks down the hall for Frohike, sees nothing, and closes the door, throwing two dead bolts. Mulder says, "Tell me again why we need a pass code for a poker game?" Mulder, Byers, and Langly sit down at a card table and start buying poker chips from the bank.

Langly says, "It was Frohike's idea. Man, has he been acting weird."

Byers and Langly keep looking at each other and giving each other signals with their eyes and gesturing towards Mulder. Byers says, "I tried to tell him that there's no need for a code."

Mulder looks up from counting his poker chips and sees them each trying to get the other to ask Mulder something. Just then Frohike knocks at the door. Mulder sighs and goes to the door and lets him in.

Frohike looks at Mulder sheepishly and hold up a six pack. "Forgot the beer in the van." Mulder takes the beer.

Langly and Byers are still arguing quietly when Mulder and Frohike come over and join them at the card table. Mulder puts the beer on the table and Frohike throws down a twenty. Frohike says, "Hey, Fox, what's wrong with the Yanks this year?"

Mulder gives Frohike some poker chips and while Mulder is looking down counting chips Byers and Langly and Frohike are all silently mouthing to each other and gesturing towards Mulder. Mulder says, "There's nothing wrong with the Yankees that another 200 million can't fix." Mulder looks at each of the three. "Come on, guys, what is it?"

Byers says, "Truth is Mulder, Langly has not been well, either."

Langly says, "Hey, you're worse off than me, man. He's been wetting his bed." Mulder can't stop a grin from reaching his face. "Really, he pissed in his bed!"

Mulder says, "Did I ever tell you this? First week at the academy, they show us this set of crime scene images. Blood and body parts. It gave me a nightmare and I messed my bed. Literally scared the-"

Langly pops open a beer bottle and foam squirts out all over Mulder. "Damn! Sorry, man." Mulder goes to the kitchen and gets a towel. As soon as Mulder leaves the room, Byers, Langly and Frohike are whispering frantically.

Mulder comes back to the table and Byers asks, "How about you Mulder, how are you doing, now?"

Mulder picks up a deck of cards and sets it in front of Byers, who cuts the deck. Mulder says, "Five card draw." He deals the cards. "No better than last week. In fact, I'm probably worse. You know- Ante up." They all put a chip in the middle of the table. "For a while I was sure that Dana was on the Moon. Now I do not feel that any more. I've lost her, totally lost the connection."

Langly says, "Pass".

Frohike asks, "Connection?" And adds, "Pass."

Byers shrugs and says, "Spooky Mulder. Pass."

Mulder says, "I don't know, I just feel it." He bets a chip and everyone stays in.

Langly discards, "Three."

Frohike says, "Three." Byers takes three and Mulder takes four cards.

Frohike observes, "He has an ace up his sleeve."

Byers asks Mulder, "Any word from your sources in the Bureau about that missing artifact?"

"I saw Doggett a couple of days ago. The artifact is gone without a trace. The crew members of the Floreana were in better shape when they reappeared than we were. They have not been having the same problems we developed after getting back. No flashbacks. No sleep disruption. "

Langly throws his cards down, "Fold."

Frohike comments, "Such bravery. I bet 25." He throws a chip into the pot.

Mulder has been struggling with a vague memory of something Scully said on the Moon. Or was it something she had said many years ago? Mulder asks, "Do any of you remember Scully talking about a way for us to remember what had happened to us? A way to prevent the clones from erasing our memories?"

Byers says, "I'm in," And adds to the pot.

Langly says, "All I remember is Scully saying she was going to stay with the clones."

Frohike says, "Do you really remember her saying that or did the clones tell us that?"

Byers warns Frohike, "Don't start that again."

Mulder says, "Your 25, another 25."

Frohike says, "Oooo. A pair of aces? I'm all a tremble. 25. Call. "

Byers starts to sweat profusely. Frohike kicks Langly under the table. "Byers is nervous about losing his lunch money again."

Mulder looks at Byers with concern. "You alright, Byers?

Byers' hand slowly moves to pick up a chip, and then he flips it into the pot. "Drugs!" He blurts out, and then sits panting.

Mulder gets out of his chair and does a little victory dance. "Yes!" He pumps his arm. "Scully said it would be possible to block the memory erasure with drugs. Byers, what is that stuff you take?"

Byers wipes sweat of his brow. "Amantadine."

Mulder snaps his fingers, "Right. What if the amantadine in your system kept some of your memories intact? What else do you remember?" Byers starts to get very dizzy. Mulder is still excitedly pacing around behind Byers and can't see the green color of his face. Frohike is watching Mulder and Langly is staring at Byers with sick fascination. Mulder pounds a fist in his palm, "There was something else. Something about her...brain."

Frohike says, "Brain?"

Langly asks, "Her brain cancer?"

Mulder puts a finger to his lips and warns Langly and Frohike, "Quiet, you two. Byers is my man."

Byers suddenly rises out of his chair knocking over the table. Poker chips, beer bottles and cards go flying and Byers turns and vomits on Mulder's feet. Mulder jumps back and Byers continues retching unproductively. Langly brings some towels from the kitchen. Frohike is at Byers' side and says, "He's trying to say something."

Byers says, "Sing...sing...gu...let." He sits on the floor with his head between his legs for a minute while the others clean up the room. Finally he says quietly but clearly, "cingulate cortex. She was talking about the cingulate cortex."

Langly says, "What the hell is that?"

Mulder says, "I remember that!" He is very happy with each tiny memory that he can recover. "Dana was talking about memory and the cingulate cortex. She had a theory. A way to prevent the clones from steeling our memories."

Langly says, "Bull shit, man. This is the worst kind of bogus memory recovery. You might as well get out your Ouija board."

Frohike says, "Maybe Langly is right, Mulder. You have to relax and trust Scully. What can you do? Think what we are up against. You're just making this hard on yourself"

Mulder comes crashing off of his enthusiastic outburst. "Ya, ya. Drugs. Cortex. It leads me no where."

Langly says, "Maybe it's better to let it go, Fox."

Mulder scowls at Langly. "Come on, spill it, guys. What are you hiding from me? If its news about Scully, I'll...I'll..." He looks desperately at each of them then turns away.

The Lone Gunmen start their act again, each trying to get the other to tell their news to Mulder. Without turning, Mulder says, "Tell me. I need to know. Is she dead?"

Byers says, "No, Mulder! No. Nothing like that. Its Langly's work."

Langly says, "Maybe it means nothing."

Frohike says, "Just tell him."

Langly explains, "We still have a tap into the FBI video feed from Scully's computer, her webcam. One of the clones searched her house again yesterday."

Mulder says, "A clone was looking for Scully?"

"He did a quick tour of her house, then left."

Mulder turns around, "The clones are looking for Scully?"

Byers nods. Mulder knows that Scully is back on Earth. He nods knowingly. That's why she's not on the Moon. She's on Earth! Mulder decides that there is only one way to find Dana. If the clones are back on Earth searching for Dana, she must have escaped from them. If the clones are back on Earth, then the FBI will be tracking them. Mulder knows he must shadow Doggett and Reyes. He runs out of the apartment leaving the Lone Gunmen standing there looking mystified.


	7. National

National

Doggett and Reyes are moving with the mass of passengers that just arrived at National Airport from Portland. Doggett is holding a tattered suit jacket in one hand and Reyes has her left arm in a sling. As they come out past a security check point and into the main concourse, they see Skinner waiting for them. Skinner had reached them by phone and told them that the FBI image analysis section had some new matches for the men who had abducted Scully. Skinner asks, "What happened to you?"

Doggett says, "We were making an arrest and the guy told his dogs to attack us."

Skinner says, "I know you've been on the road for a week, but I really need you in San Diego." Skinner leads them into a small room through a door marked "Security". They sit down at a small table and Skinner opens the file folder that is on the table. These are the three recent image matches." He spreads the three prints across the table.

Reyes says, "They must know that we are watching for them. Its like they want us to notice what they are doing."

Skinner nods. "Yes, I think they do want us to notice. I got another call from their spokesman; he even told me his name. He calls himself Rupert. He asked for our help."

Doggett laughs. "Oh, that's real funny." Doggett notices that Skinner is dead serious. "Come on, how can they abduct an FBI agent, two former agents, and assorted others and then come back asking for our help?"

Skinner explains, "They want our help to find Scully."

Doggett slaps his forehead, "Of course, it had to come to this. Kidnappers asking the FBI to help find abductees." He notices that Reyes has her hands up at the sides of her head and is massaging her temples. "What is it , Monica?"

She is struggling to tell them something she remembers about what the clones had said while Reyes was being held captive, but the harder she tries the worse she feels. She gives up and tries to get John to figure it out for himself. "It does make sense, John."

Doggett can see how she is suffering and he starts to try to understand what she is hinting at. "Do you think Scully escaped from Rupert? If she did, why wouldn't she contact us?"

Skinner says, "Rupert told me that Dana was taken to San Diego back in May."

Doggett can't believe his ears. He asks, "Rupert took Scully to San Diego in May? She's been on Earth four months?"

Skinner thinks about Rupert's exact words. "He just said that she was taken there." Skinner picks up one of the photographic prints of a clone. "We've had no sighting of these clones on the West coast." He holds the image of a clone so that Doggett can see it. "Recognize where this one was?"

Doggett looks closely, "Is that Scully's house?"

Skinner replies, "Yes. I think Rupert is seriously searching for Dana. The clones might have lost her after she reached San Diego. Do you remember the Floreana?"

Reyes feels a wonderful relaxation of the pressure in her head as her thoughts follow Skinner's question and she stops obsessing over the fragment of memory she has been trying to share with Doggett. She says, "That crew man we interviewed in San Diego back in May could not remember who had shot him. If Rupert and his brothers were involved in the abduction of the crew of the Floreana, would they have involved Scully...in...that?" As her thoughts return to Dana, a fresh wave of pain slams into Monica. She is again breathing heavily and clenching her fists over eyes that feel like they might explode.

John shouts, "Stop it, Monica! Enough! Quiet!" Monica, smiles and eases back in her chair. She can tell that John has realized what she is going through, what he must do in order to ease her pain- and what he must do to make it worse. "Okay, there is something you want to tell me about the clones. Maybe something you heard during your captivity." Doggett continues thinking out load, using Monica's reaction to his words to guide him in the network of possibilities. "The clone brothers brain washed you in order to keep certain secrets, but I'm guessing you have remembered something important. You have remembered but you are not free to talk about it?" John sees Monica wince with pain and open her mouth. "No! Don't try to talk! What ever they did to your brain is causing you pain if you try to talk about your memories." He says to Skinner, "We have to figure out what Monica has remembered. What do we know about how Rupert and his brothers operate? Dana was zeroing in on DNA evidence, indisputable evidence of aliens, and they had to act to silence her."

Skinner speculates, "Assume that the Floreana found an alien artifact on the sea floor. Rupert was probably forced to act again."

John agrees with Skinner's guess. "But Scully did not just stumble across alien DNA. She had been infected with it as part of some experiment."

Skinner says, "It is natural to assume that Rupert was responsible for the infection and was trying to cover it up."

"But that is an assumption." Monica groans and clasps her arms around her head. John suspects that if Monica is feeling pain every time she tries to say something that Rupert wants kept secret, then he can use her cries of agony as an indication that he is guessing correctly. "An unsupported assumption. So let's try assuming something else" Monica shrieks with pain. Doggett tries to harden his heart and keep at it. "If someone else infected Scully….and if Rupert...why would Rupert have to cover up what someone else had done?"

Skinner suggests, "Scully had been turned into a walking display case for advanced alien DNA technology. It must be Rupert's job to keep hidden such advanced technology and evidence of aliens being on Earth." Reyes kneels next to the waste basket and vomits into it. Doggett takes that as a good sign.

Skinner moves to go to the aid of Reyes, but Doggett restrains him. "She'll be okay." Doggett turns his back on Reyes and tries to ignore her suffering. "Then someone else is doing the dirty work, infecting Dana with branched DNA...maybe these others were not done with Dana. Maybe they took her away from Rupert. Do they want to continue their experiments on Scully?"

Skinner shakes his head. "It does not add up. Why would Rupert wait from May to September before trying to recover Dana?"

Doggett notices that Reyes is quiet. He turns and finds her sitting on the floor watching him. She smiles weakly and says, "Rupert is clearly a step behind the- these others. What if it took all these months for Rupert to figure out that Dana was in danger, or back being used by these others?" Reyes thinks back to how Dana got into this mess in the first place, with Mulder using her as bait. But if Mulder only managed to attract the attention of Rupert and not those who had infected Scully….maybe Rupert is kicking things up a notch. Maybe he is trying to use Scully as bait, too. And maybe Rupert knows how to catch the real perps! "Now Rupert is doing everything he can to correct his errors, including asking the FBI for help."

Skinner hands John a pair of plane tickets. "You better go or you'll miss the flight." He asks Reyes, "Can you make this trip, Monica?"

Monica smiles weakly, stands up and wipes her mouth on her sling, "Oh, I feel much better now. The two of you figured out what I was trying to say. Its like all the weight of the world was lifted from me. Rupert is on our side in this. John and I have to go to San Diego and figure out who Rupert is up against. That will lead us to Dana." John takes Dana's arm and they hurry out of the little security room and rush off to catch their plane.

Skinner leans against the wall and heaves a deep sigh. He goes to the table and puts the photos back into the file folder. He turns to go and the door opens. It is one of the clones. Skinner draws his gun. Rupert says, "Don't do that, Walter." Gas starts hissing from a hole in the heal of Rupert's shoe. "Tell me how things went with Doggett and Reyes."

Skinner's finger tightens on the trigger. Suddenly his eyes blur and his legs feel like rubber. He sinks into a chair, his gun resting in his lap. Realizing he has been drugged, Skinner tries to again point his gun at Rupert. Rupert bats the gun out of Skinner's hand and grabs Skinner's jacket in his fists. "Do they know what they're getting into? Do you have any idea what we are dealing with?" Skinner's muscles go lax and he slips into a state of dream-like consciousness.

Rupert keeps one hand on Skinner and pulls two chairs together so he can sit knee-to-knee with Skinner. Rupert delivers a series of brutal slaps to the sides of Skinners head and Skinner's eyes open to hate-filled slits. Rupert says, "Listen to me Walter. This is important. We finally got a lead on Scully. The lab in San Diego isn't where Scully is. But someone there probably does know where she is. Have your agents search the San Diego lab and question everyone they find there." Rupert takes a slip of paper out of his pocket and tucks it into Skinner's shirt pocket. "Get some backup for Doggett and Reyes. Don't underestimate what they are up against." Rupert lets Skinner slump onto the table. Rupert stands up and adjusts his suit. Just before he steps out into the concourse, his face morphs into that of another man.


	8. Tail

Tail

After leaving the poker game, Mulder tried to find Doggett and Reyes, certain that they would be trying to track the clones who had abducted Scully and who were once again showing themselves on Earth. Mulder reached Doggett by phone and learned that Doggett and Reyes were flying into National Airport. Mulder decides to meet Doggett and Reyes at the airport and stick tightly to them until they are told about the new sighting of a clone at Scully's house.

Mulder learns the location of the gate for the flight from Portland and positions himself to wait for its arrival. Fox tries to figure out a reason why the clones would take no pains to hide their appearance. He mutters to himself, "No fear. No fear." Mulder is not surprised to notice Skinner arrive and take up position to wait for the arrival of Doggett and Reyes. Certain the Skinner has already spoken to Doggett or Reyes during their flight, Mulder is tempted to call John again. Mulder forces himself to relax and not tip his hand. Watching Skinner, Mulder contemplates just walk up to him and asking what he knows about Scully. But as Mulder makes a move to start walking towards Skinner, he is suddenly paralyzed with fear and a visceral distrust of Skinner.

Mulder takes a seat and waits. When Doggett and Reyes arrive, Mulder decides he must wait until they leave Skinner's presence before he can approach them. While Skinner, Doggett and Reyes are in the security holding room, Mulder tries to imagine why the sight of Skinner now elicits crashing waves of fear.

Mulder thinks about the drugs used by the clone brothers on their captives. He wonders about the significance of the fact that of all the people who knew Scully was a carrier of an alien DNA virus, Skinner was the only one not to be subjected to the drugs used by the clones to control their victims.

Mulder turns to the man sitting in the chair beside him. "How about those Nationals?"

The man lowers the sports pages he has been reading, revealing a Yankees baseball cap. The man glowers at Mulder. Mulder does something he has not tried to do since having been abducted by the clones; he tries to tell a perfect stranger about his abduction. Mulder gets his mouth open then starts to sweat, feels nauseous and a sharp pain grows behind his eyes. The Yankees fan goes from looking annoyed to looking afraid. He stands up and walks away from Mulder. As Mulder abandons the idea of telling a stranger about the clones, the pain in his head evaporates. Mulder is almost back to normal when he sees Doggett and Reyes rush out of the security room.

Mulder follows John and Monica to the security check point leading back to the set of gates that includes the gate where they had just arrived from Portland. He curses the fact that he cannot follow them to their departure gate without going through security. Judging by how John and Monica are rushing, Mulder guesses their flight is scheduled to depart soon. Mulder looks at a monitor showing the departing flights. There are three flights scheduled to depart in the next ten minutes. Remembering the Floreana, Mulder guesses they are catching the flight to San Diego. Mulder sees that there is one more later flight to San Diego. He goes and gets in line to buy a plane ticket, confident that Skinner has put Doggett and Reyes on assignment to track down either Scully directly, or at least one of the clones. Mulder needs to confirm their destination. Mulder pulls out his cell phone and calls Doggett. A breathless Doggett opens the connection, "John Doggett."

At the last second Mulder realizes that Doggett will probably be able to tell by the background sounds that Mulder is at the airport. "John, I came to the airport to give you a lift home. Did I miss you?"

Doggett says, "That's might friendly, Fox, but you should have saved yourself the trouble. We're turning right around and going back to the West Coast."

Mulder tries to sound surprised. "Are you kidding? Did you forget something in Portland?"

Just then Doggett relaxes into his seat next to Reyes. He says to Monica, "Mulder came to the airport to give us a ride." John tells Mulder, "Skinner thinks that Dana might have been in San Diego after the crew of the Floreana was abducted. We're going to go check out that lead."

Mulder steps up to an automated ticket dispenser and uses his credit card to buy a ticket on the next flight to San Diego. "Well, maybe we can have a beer in the terminal before your flight. Where are you?"

Doggett explains what Mulder already knows, "We're already on our plane. Looks like they are ready to close the doors. Let's catch up when I get back from San Diego."

Mulder expresses disappointment at having missed them. "Give me a call if you find anything on Scully, otherwise I'll buy you dinner when you get back in town"

Doggett signs off, "Right. Later."


	9. California

California

September 24, 2005

About 12:30 am a custodian finds Skinner slumped over the table in the security room. "Sorry, sir." He starts to back out of the door, then realizes something is wrong. "Ah, sir?" The custodian shakes Skinner's shoulder and manages to wake him. Skinner is horrified to find his gun on the floor and then the memories of Rupert start to come to him in a confused jumble. Skinner pulls himself to his feat and stumbles out of the security room. By the time Skinner has walked back to his car, he has a fairly coherent version of Rupert's words assembled in his mind.

Skinner calls Doggett but the call goes to voice mail. He gets through to Reyes. "Reyes here."

Skinner says, "I have an address for you. A molecular biology lab in San Diego that

Scully may have had dealings with during the past few months."

Monica asks, "Is this more information from Rupert?"

Skinner replies, "Yes. I'm counting on you and John to start getting us some leads of our own."

Doggett is asleep in the seat next to Reyes. Monica has been reviewing her computer notes on the _Floreana_ case. "I have the address of the Marine Science Institute."

Skinner is looking at the slip of paper given to him by Rupert. "No, that's not it." Skinner reads off the new address provided by Rupert, an address which is actually San Diego, not Chula Vista. "The lab is listed as **Champion Research** in registration papers with the state of California. They have permits for doing Level 4 Biocontainment work."

Reyes yawns and says, "We'll drop by first thing tomorrow if you can get us a search warrant. What grounds are there for a warrant?"

Skinner says, "This is a federal kidnapping investigation, we'll have no trouble getting a search warrant. Call me from your hotel once you get settled for the night. I'll set you up with a backup team from the San Diego office. They'll collect all the paper and connect with you tomorrow." Skinner breaks the connection, starts his car, then thinks better of driving.

Skinner calls the San Diego office of the FBI and directs agents there to obtain a search warrant for **Champion Research** and to expect agents Doggett and Reyes to arrive to spear head the investigation. He puts away his phone, reclines his seat and almost instantly falls asleep.

Reyes puts away her phone, makes a few notes about Skinner's phone call on her laptop computer, then shuts off her computer. She reclines her seat and tries to sleep. Soon she is cold, but John is stretched out and blocking her from getting to the isle and having access to blankets. She looks around the cabin, notes the large number of sleeping passengers and wonders if all the blankets are in use already. Her injured arm is aching from being bent within its sling all day. She takes the sling off her arm and uses it and her jacket as blankets. She lifts up the side of John's blanket and snuggles under it next to John.

Doggett never opens his eyes but says, "What did Skinner have to say?"

Monica replies, "Rupert coughed up some more information; the location of a research lab in San Diego that apparently has some connection to Scully."

Doggett had been puzzled by what he could hear on Monica's end of the phone call from Skinner. "I thought we were following a connection between Rupert and the Floreana. This lab Rupert is pointing at is not part of the Marine Science Institute?"

"I don't know. Skinner is arranging for search warrants. We will have to see what turns up." Monica weighs the possibilities. "Rupert may be directing us towards a private lab that does contract work for the Marine Science Institute."

John opens his eyes and turns his head to face Reyes. He looks into her eyes from just a few inches away, "Why are you so sure we can trust Rupert? My hunch is we are walking into a trap."

Monica does not agree. "My guess is, these clones could abduct us any time they want. No, they would never have returned me or anyone else from captivity if they wanted anything to do with us. Scully is special. Special because of what was done to her with the branched DNA. And Rupert is **NOT** responsible for that. As much as I hate Rupert and what he **IS** responsible for, we have to trust him now. I doubt if he enjoys having to work with us any more than we like working with him. These are desperate moves."

"I still cannot imagine how Scully could be back on Earth for months without having contacted Mulder or anyone." John thinks about the poorly veiled desperation that was audible in Mulder's voice when he called. "Mulder is in a bad way. I think he is close to interfering with this investigation."

Reyes thinks she can understand Mulder, but she understands how strange their behavior must seem to Doggett. Monica tries to explain to Doggett the extent of the power that the clones have over her and the other former captives. "Its not just that we were made to forget the events of our captivity. Some how Rupert maintains control over us. When there is something that I want to tell you about what I remember from my captivity, it causes me great pain to try to tell you about it."

Doggett cannot imagine how Rupert can maintain such control over Monica. "Do you think Rupert implanted something inside you? Can he hear everything you say? Can he know everything you think and want to say?"

Monica replies, "No, its not like that. When we were returned to Earth, a team of experts went over us with every available tool and scan. I think they would have found any implanted transmitters. No, its more subtle. Its as if I edit myself. Only I could know what would need to be known in order to do that kind of on-the-fly editing."

Doggett is irritated by the thought of Rupert turning Monica into some kind of puppet and Monica's riddles are not helping any, either. "Is this brain washing? You are doing Rupert's will? He ordered you not to reveal his secrets and something inside you will follow his order even if another part of you does want to talk?"

"It must be something like that." Monica tries to put Doggett's general idea on more solid ground. "It reminds me of I book I read in college. The book is called _The Intentional Stance_."

Doggett says, "Sounds like some newfangled football play."

Reyes giggles and grabs onto John's arm. "The book has nothing to do with football. But it could. For example, if it is fourth down and fifteen yards to go for a first down, what play do you call?"

"Doggett replies, "Punt, or try a field goal kick if you are close enough."

Reyes asks, "Any exceptions?"

"Sure, if it is late in the game and you are behind, you have to go for the first down anyhow."

"Any other exceptions?"

Doggett nods, "There are endless exceptions. You do not always want to do the expected. Sometimes a team will fake a punt play. Set up as if you will punt, but try to pass for the first down."

Reyes nods. "That's what the "intentional stance" is all about. We anticipate what other people will think and do, then we decide what we will do based on what we expect other people to do. And there are endless echoes of that kind of thinking. If you know that the other team knows that you might fake a punt, you can put your best receiver on the field during a fourth down play and make them expect a pass, but you can just use the possibility of a pass to draw away blockers from their punt receiver, and go ahead and punt anyhow."

Doggett says, "So what does this have to do with Rupert?"

Monica replies, "The point is, each of us is constantly keeping track of what everyone else knows. If I know that there is something you do not know about Rupert, I can't tell you about it. When you figured out the idea that Rupert did not put the branched DNA into Scully, it suddenly became possible for me to talk to you about that and to speculate openly with you about who was responsible. Only I know that kind of detail about what you know, so in some way, it must be my own mind that is acting to control what I can and cannot say to you."

Doggett complains, "It still sounds like magic. How can Rupert exert that kind of control over you? Worse, if it is true, you are aware of what is going on but you still cannot do anything about it. If we are up against that kind of power, what chance to we have?"

Reyes thinks that there is a bright side to the situation. "I know it is not much, but I have learned that you know enough about me and what I have been through so that you can watch me for clues. If I remember something, you can notice that I am trying to tell you something. Then it is like a game of reversed twenty questions. As long as you ask the wrong question then I can tell you that you are wrong. If you are getting close to the truth, I cannot say anything and I start to suffer pain just by thinking about you getting closer to the truth. But if you can guess the truth, then I am no longer prevented from discussing it with you. See, John, we can work around Rupert's mind block."

"But it all depends on you remembering something from when you were abducted. What if these tidbits you can remember were planted in your mind by Rupert? It is rather convenient for him that you "remembered" that he is not responsible for the branched DNA inside Scully."

Reyes has no further argument to make. She realizes that she is just relying on faith that her memories can be trusted. She does not like the look in John's eyes when he looks at her. His eyes do not speak of trust. She sighs and tries to tell herself that it is his job to doubt everything, including his partner when she starts trusting the bad guys.

By mid-afternoon, Doggett and Reyes are tired and demoralized. Doggett sits down next to Reyes and says, "I need a nap."

Reyes takes her arm out of its sling and massages it with her other hand. They are sitting on the loading dock of **Champion Research** while movers haul the last of the equipment from the lab onto moving trucks. Reyes mutters, "Not a single piece of paper."

The laboratory staff must have been tipped to the fact that the FBI was coming. The lab showed evidence of recent use, but nobody showed up for work. Their search warrant specified that the FBI could search for documents indicating who the lab did business with, but there were no documents. Not even a filing cabinet or a desktop computer. The only thing with writing on it in the entire building had been the laboratory materials like flasks and tubes.

Doggett had sent digital photographs of some of the mysterious writing to Washington. By 1 pm, word came back from Skinner that the obviously foreign script matched no known language. Skinner put the lab under the heading of a suspected bioterrorism workshop and ordered everything that could be moved to be confiscated.

Doggett says, "I can't help thinking that Rupert tipped this place off. He wanted us to shut it down, but not catch who ever was working here."

Reyes shrugs. "I don't think it matters. All this lab equipment is standard molecular biology equipment. Modern and expensive, but nothing- alien. I bet the people who have been working here are also unremarkable- as human as we are."

John is dubious. "Then why are they hiding?"

Reyes offers some guesses. "Oh, they probably could have been useful as witnesses. And a bit of detective work will find the people who worked here." All of the local FBI agents has scattered to work with the local police on finding the **Champion Research** work force. "But I fear that while we sit here, Scully is in danger. At the very least she will be moved out of our reach."

Doggett resists reminding Monica that Dana has been out of reach for months. He knows that Monica had been hopeful that it would be easy to find a link from **Champion Research** to Scully. One of the workmen says, "Reyes? Are you Monica Reyes?"

Monica looks up and recognizes the foreman for the moving crew. She had signed papers for him earlier. Monica yawns and says, "I'm agent Reyes."

The mover says, "You better take this phone call. Some woman named Scully. Claims she knows you."

Reyes rushes inside. Doggett uses his cell phone to call the San Diego office of the FBI. "Special Agent Doggett, here. I've got an emergency in an abduction case. Connect me to your office that handles phone call traces."

Reyes enters the lab, finds the phone and says, "Dana? Are you there?"

Scully replies, "Monica! Where are you?"

Reyes thinks that is the stupidest question she's ever heard Scully ask. Monica asks, "Where are you?" Reyes hears Dana gasp. "Dana, are you okay?" Dana, are you still there?"

After a pause that seems horribly long, Dana speaks again. "I'm here. I was trying to reach anyone associated with the Marine Science Institute who might know what's going on."

Monica says, "So you are involved with the Floreana."

Dana does not recognize the name of the ship at first, then remembers. "Oh, that ship. No. I had nothing to do with that. And it looks like Roberta Lincoln also had nothing to do with it."

Monica is lost, "Roberta Lincoln?"

Scully has no idea where Monica is or what she knows. "Monica, please, tell me where you are. I can't understand how I got you on this line."

Monica explains, "This is Champion Research, in San Diego. John and I are here looking for you. Skinner got a tip suggesting that this research lab was somehow linked to you. Is that true? Have you been working here?"

Dana replies, "I know nothing about Champion Research. I've been calling people at the Marine Science Institute, trying to find anyone who might be able to tell me about Roberta Lincoln. Finally they found this phone number in their accounts database." Scully is just fitting the puzzle pieces together. "I guess Roberta used to work for Champion and had some business with the Institute."

Reyes is still confused. "Who is Roberta Lincoln?"

Dana replies enigmatically, "I wish I knew. She has been claiming to work for the Marine Science Institute. She told me that I have been getting paid by the Marine Science Institute. I've been cashing checks that say "Marine Science Institute" on them. But payroll at the Institute has never heard of either of us."

Reyes demands, "Dana, where are you?" Monica hears what sounds like Dana panting. Monica thinks she knows what is happening. "Forget it Dana! Don't try to tell me! I've been going through this myself. Rupert has some kind of control over what we can say. We'll find you Dana!"

John enters the lab, his cell phone to his ear. "She's in Mexico. We're getting the trace."

Reyes smiles at the good news and says to Dana, "Doggett is tracing this call. We will find you, even if you cannot tell us where you are!" Suddenly Reyes hears a dial tone. She says to Doggett, "She hung up."

Doggett says, "That's okay. We got it. Its some private satellite link phone line in Mexico."

Reyes looks at the screen of the lab's digital phone. "I've got the number here."

Doggett grabs the phone from Reyes and looks at the number. He explains, "That's the number for the company that rents the private line. We're doing an emergency warrant based on the Floreana terrorism investigation. We'll get Dana's location" Then he talks on his cell phone, "Okay, call me when you have it. Make sure Skinner is told."

Reyes sprints for the door. "Come on!" In her mind, she's already in Mexico.


	10. Hands up

Hands up!

Mulder has no trouble following Doggett and Reyes from the San Diego FBI field office in the Federal Office Building to the laboratories of **Champion Research**. Once Mulder takes up an observation position across the street from the **Champion Research** building, he calls Langly and requests a search for any information he can get via the internet on **Champion Research**.

About noon, Langly calls Mulder. "I hacked into phone records for **Champion Research**. Looks like Doggett and Reyes pulled their plug on them early today. There has been none of the normal outbound phone traffic at all today."

Mulder realizes that he has seen plenty of FBI activity but nothing that looks like workers being sent home from the **Champion Research** lab. He asks Langly, "How big an operation is **Champion Research**?"

"Judging by the typical weekday phone call volume, I'd guess a dozen employees. Normally there is plenty of activity on weekends, too."

"This is some kind of high-tech startup research park. Plenty of activity all around here. The FBI didn't get here until about 11:00 am. There were no phone calls before then?"

"Nada." Langly asks, "Were they tipped?"

Mulder replies, "Looks that way." Mulder is parked in another company's parking lot across the street from **Champion Research**. Workers have been coming out, headed to lunch. Mulder says to Langly. "Later." He gets out of his rental car and approaches a group of workers who are getting into a car.

Mulder says hello and shows them his Virginia private investigator's license. "I'm investigating **Champion Research**," He nods in the direction of the building across the street. "Do any of you know anyone who works there?"

The man who is getting into the driver's seat looks across the street. "They moved in a few years ago and put together a softball team for the research park's league. Bunch of young science nerds just out of school. Well paid; they all drive fancy cars. Cars that I don't see today. Strange, they usually show up on Saturdays. They work as hard as us computer geeks."

One of the women in the car says, "Speaking of work, Bill, lets get going. I have to be back by 1:00 for that Singapore phone conference."

Mulder reaches through the window and puts his hand on the driver's shoulder. "Is it alright if I go in and use your restroom?"

The driver laughs, "Sure, there's one just inside. You do not have to deal with security to get to it."

Mulder goes back to his car and tries not to think about lunch. Half an hour later he orders lunch for delivery. "Ya, I'll meet you in the parking lot. Right. Cash."

By 1:30 his hunger is sated and he is fighting off sleep. Most of the FBI agents have left and a the moving crew is in full swing. His curiosity gets the better of him and he crosses the street and talks to one of the movers. "Hey, I work across the street. What's going on here?"

The mover replies, "Police operation. We're cleaning the place out. Somebody said this is a bioterrorism lab. Probably be on the news tonight."

Mulder looks around, "I don't see any reporters or cops. I'm wondering if you guys are stealing this equipment."

The worker laughs. "Just two plain clothes FBI agents left. I'm getting back to work. You can take your doubts up with the foreman."

Mulder walks back to his car. While crossing the street, he does not see Doggett come out and drive off to hunt up lunch for himself and Reyes. Fifteen minutes later Mulder realizes that Doggett's and Reyes' rental car is no longer in the **Champion Research** parking lot. Mulder goes into panic mode and decides his best bet is to go back to the FBI field office. Just as Mulder pulls onto the street, Doggett returns. Mulder tries to turn invisible as he passes just ten feet from Doggett, driving in opposite directions. But Doggett is busy looking for the correct drive way and does not notice Mulder. Mulder turns around and goes back to his watch.

After their lunch break, Doggett and Reyes finish photographing all of the alien script on tubes, flasks, vials and boxes in the lab. Reyes sends the last of the images to Washington via her laptop and the WiFi network of the research park.

Mulder is dozing off when he sees Doggett and Reyes come outside and sit on the loading dock. Mulder perks up and wonders if they are getting ready to leave. He can't imagine why they are spending so much time inside the lab. If it was a bioterrorism lab, there would be hazmat teams swarming the place. Soon after Reyes and Doggett go back inside, Langly calls. "Finally got a call at **Champion Research**. Incoming." Mulder sees Reyes and Doggett rush to their car and drive away.

Mulder follows Doggett and Reyes and says to Langly, "Let me guess, the call was from FBI, Washington. Doggett and Reyes just took off like Skinner punted their butts."

Langly says, "Wrong. Hold on. The call was from some private phone system." After a pause, Langly says, "There's a hack for this database."

Mulder is having trouble keeping up as Doggett speeds through traffic. "Langly, don't do anything illegal unless you can't get caught."

Langly says, "Hey, man, don't ask for my help and then doubt my kung fu."

Mulder gets trapped by a red light at an intersection after Doggett blows through on the yellow light. "Damn! I'm going to lose them, and I have no idea where they are going."

Mulder guesses that maybe they were heading for the Marine Research Institute in Chula Vista. He stops his car and looks in his wallet for the address of the Institute. Langly says. "I traced it. Ever heard of San Felipe, Mexico?"

Mulder curses and turns around, heading for the airport. Langly says, "I found it. Hey, you could drive there in two hours. Baja California."

Mulder asks, "Plane connections?"

Langly says, "No regular connections. There is an airport there if you want to charter something and fly down."

Mulder stops his car and turns around. "Not on my budget." He is still stinging from the cost of his flight to San Diego. "Okay, I'll drive it." He pulls back into traffic heading south again.

The idea of Doggett tracing her phone call puts Scully into a panic. After breaking the phone connection, Dana regains her composure and leaves her cabin to return to the lab. She is nearly mesmerized by the gymnastics of her own thoughts; half thrilled with the idea that Doggett probably was able to trace her phone call and half sickened by the same thought.

Dana decides that she has no more time to try to spy on Roberta in order to figure out what Roberta has been doing with branched DNA. Dana is certain that Roberta has been using branched DNA vectors to genetically engineer the _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus, _which is just the sort of thing that Rupert had wanted to make use of Scully for in his effort to prevent illegal intervention into the development of Earth.

Dana finds Roberta in the cell culture room, working in the sterile containment hood. Scully sits down on the stool next to the inverted microscope and speaks loudly over the noise of the hood's fan, "What are you doing, Roberta?"

Roberta caps the culture tubes she is working with and spins her chair to face Scully. "I'm doing some control transfections with the new vector."

Dana asks, "What kind of controls?"

Roberta replies, "Just a couple of other bacterial species. Dr. Bernak was never sure that we should put all of our eggs in one basket with _Prochloroflexus marinuslargus."_

Dana wonders how she could have been so blind. Clearly, Roberta has been keeping the use of branched DNA-containing viruses a secret for months. Every new gene modification was rock stable, a near statistical impossibility for random insertions into a chromosome. With branched DNA viruses, each insertion could be carefully controlled to target stable locations in the chromosome without risking the disruption of any existing genes. "I know you have been using branched DNA vectors."

Roberta narrows her eyes. "What is branched DNA?"

Dana does not have the patience to deal with an innocent act by Roberta. "Tell me who you are working with. Who has been sending you these viral vectors?"

Roberta shrugs. "Dana, what are you talking about? You know all of these vectors come down from the Institute."

Scully counters, "No, I've traced them to Champion Research. Nobody at the institute knows you or me."

Roberta nods, "Yes. Champion Research. That is the commercial lab that got the contract to synthesize the vectors."

Scully starts to wonder if Roberta has also been duped. "Roberta, I spoke to the payroll office at the institute. They've never heard of us."

Roberta laughs nervously, "Dana, how can that be? Everyone here at the field station gets pay checks from the Institute. Who did you speak to? They must not know what they were talking about."

Dana wonders if Roberta has an excuse for everything. "I spoke to Dr. Bernak, he does not know you."

Roberta says, "Oh, my God." She gets up and places the cell cultures in the incubator. She turns back to Scully, "Gary warned me that this might happen. But it makes no sense. I've spoke to Bernak a dozen times this summer. Why would the Observers be erasing memories now?"

Dana is impressed. Either Roberta is a great actress or she is truly puzzled. Dana asks, "Gary Seven? What does he have to do with all this?"

Roberta ignores Dana and walks out into the main lab and picks up the phone. Dana watches Roberta take out her PDA, look up a phone number and make a call. "Dr. Bernak?" Roberta turns and flashes a smile at Dana. "Ya, I'm fine. Yes, the pms growth remains very robust. We are going ahead to try the new vector also, just as a back up." Roberta listens for a while. "Well, I called because I heard a wild rumor. It sounded like maybe everyone at the Institute was suffering ill effects from the Floreana abductions. " Dana tries to take the phone from Roberta, but she will not let Dana have the phone. "Memory effects. Dr. Scully said she spoke to you and that you did not know who she is, that you did not even know me." Roberta laughs with Bernak. Scully can hear a loud male laugh from Bernak. "Okay. I'll let you know."

Dana is finally able to grab the phone from Roberta. Roberta says, "Dana, I think someone was playing a joke on you. You had me worried that maybe everyone who had been abducted from the Floreana was loosing their memories, but Dr. Bernak is just fine."

Dana looks at the display screen of the phone to see the phone number Roberta had just been connected to. "This isn't a phone number at the Institute."

Roberta nods. "That's Dr. Bernak's cell phone number."

Dana keys in the number for the Institute. "Roberta, I want you to talk to the personnel office at the Institute." The connection goes through. "Yes, you can help me. This is Dr. Scully again. Right. I'm still trying to sort out this mystery. I need you to tell Dr. Lincoln what you told me." She hands the phone back to Roberta.

Roberta listens for a minute then says, "Okay, but look, I have Dr. Bernak's cell phone number. I just talked to him-" Roberta listens again and pulls out her PDA again. She reads off the phone number for Dr. Bernak. She listens again and enters a new number into her PDA. "Thanks." Roberta ends the call and immediately keys in the new phone number.

Dana says, "Wait, Roberta, do you know-"

Roberta puts up her hand in "stop" position in front of Dana. "Its me again. Roberta Lincoln." She listens for ten seconds, then hangs up. "Dana, that was someone else. I called the number that payroll gave me as Bernak's cell phone, a man answered and said he was Bernak, but it wasn't."

Dana takes the phone out of Roberta's limp fingers. "Roberta, do you see what this means? Someone has been using us and tricking us."

Phil is gone for the weekend but the other technician has been over hearing parts of the conversation as the two women have been talking. He asks, "Is there some problem?"

Dana replies, "Some screw up with payroll. Paper pushers! Everything is under control." The technician goes back to his work and Dana turns back to Roberta and says quietly, "I need you to tell me everything you know about Gary."

Roberta shrugs. "You know everything I know. Why do you think he has something to do with this?"

Dana realizes that what Roberta has said still does not make sense. Surely the real Dr. Bernak had invited Roberta to go to sea on the Floreana. An imposter could not have made such arrangements. But the real Dr. Bernak did not know Roberta. Could his memories have been altered? But why? Dana realizes that Roberta not only looks baffled but scared. Dana takes Roberta's hand, "Let's go for a walk."

They step outside into hot muggy wind. Dark clouds are stacked high over the bay. They make it to the administration building just as big rain drops start to fall. "Roberta, I think Gary Seven has been using us. This is exactly the sort of thing that Rupert warned me about."

Roberta snarls, "Why do you trust Rupert? He wanted to keep us in prison on the Moon."

Dana tries to think what she can say to make Roberta understand what has been going on. "Roberta, someone did experiments on me and many others. Experiments with branched DNA. Genetic engineering experiments. Many people died. I was lucky to live. Someone has tricked you into making use of branched DNA viruses to speed the pms project. I suspect that Gary is behind these uses of branched DNA."

Roberta unlocks a filing cabinet and pulls open a drawer. "Dana, you are making me very nervous." Scully can see that Roberta is sweating and her hands are shaking. Roberta finds a particular folder and takes it to the office desk. Roberta sits down and looks through the papers in the folder. "You know, its like déjà vu, or backwards déjà vu. There's something wrong about all of this. I almost have a memory of this paper work, but in that almost-memory, these documents were all different. Someone changed them all." Suddenly she has an idea. She picks up the phone, reads a phone number off of sheet of paper from the file folder and makes a call. Dana looks at the papers and sees Mexican government permits for the pms genetic engineering project. "Eso es Roberta Lincoln. Dr. Lincoln, correcto. Projecto 34802. Si, cerca San Felipe. Gracias." Roberta says to Dana, "I'm betting the government's copies don't match these." Hola. Si, Dr. Lincoln. Que es el nombre del sponsor en los documentos para proyecto 34802. Champion ResearchEn todos de losdocumentos? Gracias. Adios. Si, gracias."

Roberta points to the permits on the desk. She looks at Dana and Scully can see that Roberta's face is very pale and slick with sweat. "All of these permits say that the Marine Research Institute is the sponsor for the project. But all of the copies of the permits that are still in government hands say Champion Research. I could feel that there was something wrong- " Roberta turns and vomits on the floor.

Dana grabs a coffee cup off of a shelf and goes to the water cooler. She brings water to Roberta. "Relax, Roberta. Here, have a sip."

Roberta takes the cup and tosses the water on her face.

"Don't think about what you want to say. When you were abducted, your memories were altered, restricted." Dana helps Roberta back into the chair. "It must have been Gary Seven who-"

Roberta puts her hands to the sides of her head, screams, and runs outside and into the heavy rain of a thunder storm. Dana goes to the door and calls, "Roberta, come back! Don't run off in this storm. I'll help you." Just then Gary Seven appears, running across the field station compound like a two legged cheetah. He intercepts Roberta near her cabin, sweeps her off her feet, and carries her back to the administrative building. He pushes past Dana and Dana closes the door against the storm.

Gary places Roberta on the couch in the visitors' waiting room. Roberta says, "Dana said…Dana says…"

Gary is holding tightly onto Roberta's hand, but he speaks to Scully, "The project is complete, my memory lock on you two will now expired. Soon you will be back in full control of your actions. I would have been here sooner, but Rupert tried to set a trap."

Dana is enraged by Gary's cool dismissal of what he has done as some kind of routine mission accomplished. "You lied to us! You used us!"

Roberta sits up, "I'm starting to remember, Gary."

Gary looks back at Roberta, "You'll soon be back to normal. All we need to do is get some of the bacteria and we can go."

Roberta nods and rises. Still holding Gary's hand she leads the way towards the door.

Dana shouts, "Wait! Wait. Is that it? You just go?"

Gary nods to Roberta and she leaves by herself. Gary turns back to Dana. "Dana, I want you to come with us. You did a great job on this project. There is much more work to be done."

Dana realizes that Rupert had foreseen this all, months ago. "So you are an interventionist. Everything Rupert said was true."

Gary nods. "Rupert is an honorable man, just misguided in his zeal for keeping Earth humans in the stone age. But thanks to you, progress wins another round."

Dana is still angry over the way Gary has made use of her. "What gives you the right to take control of my mind? To make me do your dirty work?"

Gary shrugs. "It may sound disingenuous to you, but it is all Rupert's fault. I'd be glad to work in the open, but he insists on forcing upon us all a bunch of petty rules and regulations."

Scully asks, "The Rules of Alien Contact?"

Gary answers with a question. "I'm as human as you are. How can rules of alien contact apply between you and I? Only because of the absurd political fanaticism of the Observers. "

Roberta returns, carrying a cryogenic sample box. Gary opens the box and looks at the frozen tubes of bacteria. "Good work." He closes the box. "My ship is just outside. Let's be off."

Roberta steps to the front door, opens it and says, "There's a strange car out-"

Doggett yells, "Hands up! Don't move"

Roberta looks to her right and starts to raise her hands. Gary turns and sprints to the back door. He pulls the back door open and comes face to face with Reyes. Monica shouts, "Halt! Put down the box. Put your hands on your head!"

At the front of the building, Doggett puts hand cuffs on Roberta with her arms locked around one of the decorative wooden pillars of the sun porch at the front of the administration building. He enters the building and sees Scully. "Dana! How many others are there?"

Dana points to the hallway, "One. He just went out the back."

Doggett runs through the administration building to the back door. He stops and calls out, "Monica?" He bolts through the door and out into wet sandy soil to the right of the sidewalk that leads to the center of the compound. He instinctively follows the fresh scuff marks around the corner of the building.

On the slight rise about fifty yards away, Doggett sees Gary Seven loading Reyes into- what? Doggett takes off at a full run and mutters, "What the hell is that?" Doggett sees Gary follow Reyes through what looks like a doorway to….. nothing. First Reyes then Gary disappears, then the doorway disappears. Doggett starts up the rise and feels a sudden gust of wind and hears a low rumble, not like thunder. He reaches the spot where Reyes had been just moments before and finds the end of a set of tracks made by men's shoes in the wet sandy soil. He thinks he can also see a set of smaller foot prints. Now he can see and hear that there is something large and blurry right beside him.

Doggett stretches out an arm and makes contact with what feels like a wall but looks like dirty glass. Keeping his hand on the mysterious "wall" he jogs all the way around its circumference. Returning to his starting place, Doggett looks back towards the administration building and sees that Roberta is gone and Dana is coming around from the back of the administration building.

Behind Doggett, the door to the space ship opens again. Dana, coming up the rise shouts to Doggett, but Rupert looks out of the doorway and fires a crystal projectile into Doggett's back. Doggett turns just in time to see Rupert duck back into the ship. Doggett lunges for the doorway but collapses just outside the ship.

Dana sees Doggett go down and she turns and runs back to the Administration building. Rupert emerges from the ship and runs after Scully. He shouts, "Dana, stop! Let's talk."

Dana reaches the front door of the administration building then stops. She decides that there is no point in running from Rupert. Rupert reaches Dana and says, "I'm sorry I did not get here sooner. I had to set a trap for Gary."

Dana says, "I was totally useless to you. The project was completed before I even figured out what was going on."

Rupert laughs, "We can set everything right now. Most important, I caught Gary introducing illegal technology to Earth. This will put an end to his illegal interventions."

Just then Mulder comes driving up the road towards the field station compound. He sees Rupert and Scully in front of the administration building and recognizes them both. Rupert pulls Dana into the front doorway. Mulder slams on his brakes in the center of the small gravel-surfaced visitors' parking lot. As Mulder gets out of the car, he sees Dana come back out the front door and she waves to him. Mulder jumps behind Doggett's and Reyes' rental car. Dana walks towards Mulder and calls out, "Its okay, Fox."

Mulder is happy to see Dana, but does not understand what she was doing with the clone or where the clone went. He says to Dana, "Tell that clone to come out where I can see him, with his hands up." Mulder looks around the area and notices Doggett on the ground not too far from the parking lot on a slight rise. "What's going on here, Dana?" Dana is relentlessly walking towards Mulder. His mind fills with the fear that she has been brain washed by the clones and is now working for them. Why else would she be back on Earth for months without contacting anyone she knew? "Stop, Dana! Stop right there."

Dana does not stop, "Don't be an idiot, Fox. What are you going to do, shoot me?"

Fox stands up as Dana comes around to his side of the car. He replies, "I don't even have a gun." Dana comes into his arms and they embrace. Fox is impressed by the solid feel of muscle on Scully's body and the ruddy glow of her skin.

Dana leans her head against his chest and says, "I wanted to contact you, but something was in control of my mind. Fox, I don't know what has been happening. Can we trust Rupert?"

Mulder asks, "Who the hell is Rupert? That clone?"

Dana realizes that Fox is totally in the dark and she is going to have to decide for herself. She senses Mulder's body become very tense and she breaks his embrace and turns to see Rupert at the top of the rise. She realizes that he went out the back of the administration building and circled around to climb up the back side of the dunes. Rupert disappears into the space craft.

Mulder watches the clone disappear. "What the- "

Dana explains, "It's a space craft. Almost invisible."

Mulder's cell phone rings and he opens the connection. "Mulder." He listens for a moment and then hands the phone to Dana. "Its for you."

Dana hears Gary Seven's voice.

It is important for Gary Seven that he completes his mission and that it appear that Rupert also completes his mission. Upon entering his space ship with Roberta and Reyes, Gary is well aware that Rupert and one of his brothers had snuck on board. Gary had purposefully made it possible for the two clones to force the pattern recognition lock on his space ship's hatch. Rupert does not allow Gary a chance to even discuss matters and fires three crystal projectiles into Gary's back. From another angle, Rupert's brother does the same. Gary turns and fires an electrode at Rupert's brother, shocking him into unconsciousness with a high voltage pulse. With the same motion Gary tumbles behind a control consol and tries to estimate where Rupert is located. Rupert has ducked back into the alcove of the ship's entry port where he waits until Gary Seven stops moving. Rupert calls to Reyes and Roberta, "Just relax. Everything will be fine."

Roberta calls back, "I'm not going back to the Moon with you!"

Rupert judges that Gary is under the influence of the drug from the crystal projectiles and enters the control room of Gary's ship. "You really have no choice, Roberta." Rupert goes to where Gary is sprawled on the floor and rolls up Gary's shirt sleeve, revealing the electrode canon. Rupert detaches the weapon from Gary's arm and stuffs it in his pocket. He then checks on his brother, who is stunned, but regaining full consciousness.

Reyes has already mostly recovered from the electric jolt she got from Gary, but she is wearing her own hand cuffs and cannot remember most of the past twenty minutes. Roberta helps Reyes get to her feet and Rupert helps his brother get up off the floor. Rupert says to his brother, "Watch these two. If they cause trouble, knock them out, too. I'm going to go get Scully." Rupert straps the electrode canon onto his brother's arm. Rupert exits the space ship with a final glance back at Gary's inert form on the floor of the control room.

A black cat enters the control room from the adjacent crew lounge and goes over to Gary's body. "Mrow!"

Roberta takes hold of the hand cuffs on Monica and says to the clone, "Can we get her out of these cuffs?"

The clone asks, "Where is the key?"

Reyes checks the key compartment of her hand cuff holster and does not find the key. She does not know

what happened to the key and shakes her head. Roberta says, "Gary must have it." She goes to Gary and searches his pockets, of which there are only two, She finds the key in his shirt pocket and shows it to the clone. He nods approval for her to release Reyes. The clone is watching Roberta try to figure out how the key works. The cat moves close behind the clone and morphs into the shape of a dark haired woman.

Reyes notices the movement behind the clone and the clone notices Reyes' reaction. The clone turns just as the woman fires an electrode into him. The clone collapses and the woman says, "Thanks for distracting him, Roberta. He'll wake up again in just a minute and we need to be ready."

Roberta pulls the cuffs off of Reyes and turns towards the dark haired woman, "Glad to be of service, Isis."

Reyes watches in fascination as Isis kneels next to the clone and kisses him on the lips. Roberta goes to a drawer of one of the control consoles and gets a small silver object that Reyes cannot see. Roberta goes to Gary and touches the small object to his neck. Both Gary and the clone begin to regain consciousness. Isis morphs back into the form of a cat. Gary gets to his feet, takes off his shirt and lays down on a flight couch and pretends to still be unconscious. Roberta sits on the edge of the couch and winks at Reyes. The clone looks around the control room groggily. "What- ?"

Reyes tries to speak but words will not come to her lips. Her thinking has cleared enough that she is sure she is not dreaming, but she has no idea what is going on. But who says alien abductions have to make sense? She goes and sits in the couch next to Roberta. Finally she finds something she can get into words, "Are we going back to the Moon?"

Roberta shrugs and looks at the clone. "He's in charge."

Reyes is trying to figure out if she can trust Roberta. Is an enemy of the clone brothers her friend? Monica is having a hard time imagining why it is that Roberta, Gary and Isis do not simply take control of the ship. Is it possible that they are just waiting for a chance to escape from the ship? Reyes has a vague dream-like memory of Gary putting her into the ship. Monica asks, "Do you know Dana Scully?"

Roberta starts rubbing the small medical servo over the bloody wounds on Gary's back. Reyes is startled to see the blood disappear and the wounds start to heal right before her eyes. Roberta replies, "I've known Dana for about four months."

"You have been with her for the past four months?" Roberta continues to heal Gary's wounds and nods. Reyes asks, "Do you know where she is now?"

Roberta replies, "I presume she is outside, talking to Rupert." She gets up and returns the medical servo to its drawer. Reyes touches one of the six pink scar-like spots on Gary's back. Her fingers tell her that there is something moving under her finger tips. She looks at her finger tips and sees what looks like a moving film of glistening oil. The oil seems to home in on an abrasion on her wrist that was caused by the hand cuffs. She watches the raw skin change hue and the pain goes away. Soon the ache in her arm from the recent dog attack also fades away.

Gary starts to stir and Roberta brings him a small bottle of liquid. Gary sits up, takes the bottle from Roberta and takes a drink.

The clone points his arm at Gary and says nervously, "Don't try to get up. I have your weapon."

Gary says quietly to Reyes, "There is a problem outside. Mulder. Can I use your phone?

Reyes takes out her cell phone and decides she is going to trust Gary. Anyone that runs with women who can turn into cats is worth cultivating as a friend. Monica hands Gary her phone. Gary does not take it. He asks, do you know Mulder's number?" Monica calls out of her phone's memory the number for Mulder's cell phone. She initiates the call and hands the phone to Gary.

The clone says, "Hey, what are you doing with that phone?" Then he falls silent and stares blankly into space. Gary walks past the clone and into the crew quarters of the ship. Just as Gary exits the control room, Rupert enters through the hatch from outside.

Outside, Mulder watches Rupert enter the door of the space ship and disappear from the top of the rise. "What the- "

Dana explains, "It's a space craft. Almost invisible"

Mulder's phone has started to ring. He takes out his phone, "Mulder." He listens for a moment and then hands the phone to Dana. "Its for you."

Gary says, "Dana? This is Gary Seven."

Dana is surprised to be talking on the phone to Gary. There is a pause while Dana tries to recover her wits. Dana finally says weakly, "What do you want?"

Gary replies, "I'd like to continue working with you, but Mulder scared Rupert off. Please come up to the ship. Rupert will let you in."

Dana laughs, "Sorry, but I've learned my lesson. I'm reluctant to continue to be a puppet for you or Rupert. The only way I'll go with you is if we can trade. Let Reyes go."

Fox grabs Dana's arm and says, "No, Dana! You can't trust them!"

Dana hears a low pitched throbbing from the ship. Gary is speaking very quickly, "Hurry to the hatch. Roberta is an Earth woman just like you. She has worked with me for over thirty years. She'll explain everything to you."

A gust of wind sweeps down on Dana and Mulder and a blur moves from the top of the rise off into the stormy sky. Gary says, "Until we meet again." The phone connection goes dead. Scully and Mulder climb up the rise, pick up Doggett and haul him back into the administration building.

Dana and Fox place the unconscious Doggett on the couch in the visitors' waiting room. Dana says to Fox, "Well, you were right. I was totally helpless for the past four months. I was the perfect puppet. I can only be thankful that I was only doing genetic manipulations on bacteria. It could just as easily have been people." Her voice breaks as she thinks about how her efforts have only led to Monica being abducted again. "It could have been more people than just Monica. My God, Mulder, that's enough."

Mulder places a hand on her shoulder, "Reyes just got in the way again. She'll be released, just like last time." Mulder asks, "What is this place, Dana? What has been going on here?"

Dana does not know how to explain it all to Fox. Somehow the past few months seem like a distant dream. She flops into a chair. "We created a solution to global warming."

Mulder figures that Scully can't be joking. "Ah, that's a bad thing?"

Dana tries to explain, "We did it with alien technology. Illegal technology." She laughs. Mulder is still confused. "Call Skinner. Tell him that we lost Reyes."

Mulder takes out his phone and calls Washington. The cook, Guadalupe comes in. "Dr. Scully. Ah, will your guest-" She notices Doggett on the couch. "Will your guests be staying for dinner? I'm canceling the cookout."

Mulder turns his back and talks to Skinner. Dana replies to Guadalupe, "Dr. Lincoln went….to San Diego. This is Fox Mulder, he and I will be here for dinner." She gestures towards Doggett. "And that is John Doggett. He's….very tired and will not join us for dinner." Guadalupe nods, takes a last dubious look at Doggett and heads back to the kitchen.

Mulder ends the phone call, "We'll expect you in about six hours. Right" He explains to Scully, "Skinner is flying in tonight. He's hoping Reyes will be released just like the last time the clones took her." He looks at Doggett, " What should we do with John?"

Dana has decided that they can take care of Doggett until he wakes up. "Let's haul him over to Roberta's cabin. We can share my cabin." Dana kicks off one of her wet shoes and rubs her foot on the inside of Mulder's thigh. "After dinner I want to show you something I learned on the Moon from a robot named 'Fox'."

Mulder grabs her leg and strokes the firm curve of her calf. "Wait a minute, a robot….named….Fox?"

Dana nods, "I had a whole month to explore the advanced technology of the Moon. Granted, some things are only possible in one sixth gee, but I'll settle for the basics tonight."

Mulder drops her leg and pulls her to her feet. He places his hands on the sides of her face. "So you were fooling around with another guy on the Moon while I was wondering if I would ever see you again, and now you expect me to…."

"Oh, yes, my expectations are now sky high." And she figures that her embarrassment over having to explain the Fox robot will be compensated for by- what? Can a man be jealous of himself?" Then she gives up temporarily on that speculation and abandons herself to trying to figure out the secret of that "Mulder look" that she could never quite reproduce in the robot. "If I ever again start to talk about needing to try something different, oh, like staying on Moon, or some planet, I want to have plenty of memories of good reasons to stay here on Earth. Let's get started on those memories, Fox."

Fox runs his fingers through Dana's rain-wetted hair. He knows that he must always keep trying to push the world closer to recognition of the fact that aliens have long been on Earth. He is grateful for the fact that Dana has miraculously come back, but he can never make his enjoyment of that, or anything, deflect him from his duty. "I wish you had contacted me and let me know that you were back on Earth. When I could no longer imagine where you were, I….suffered."

Dana moves her hands up Mulder's chest and rests them on his shoulders. "Fox, I'm quite sure that these clones and the people who did experiments on me are not aliens. They are as human as we are. They just have access to technology that is more advanced than what we have on Earth. And Fox…"

Mulder notices that she is lost in thought. "Yes, Dana?"

Scully comes back to Earth and looks into Fox's eyes. "All that mumbo jumbo about altering the memories of people abducted from Earth. That's just a smoke screen."

Fox is confused. "Come on, Dana. I've felt it, everyone who was abducted has felt the holes in their memory and other odd effects. Its chemical brain washing. How can you deny that?

Dana explains, "Because I did not go through the memory alteration treatment. Do you remember that Fox? When you were on the Moon? You and the others went through the memory change sessions. That was your ticket back to Earth. But I was not handled like that. I suspect I cannot be handled like that. But I have been going through problems with my memory and being forced to live with restrictions on what I can talk about. There is something else at work. Some more subtle way by which our thoughts and actions can be controlled."

Fox is skeptical. "How do you know? Maybe they erased your memory of going through the brain washing process."

Of course, Dana cannot be sure. But she must go with her intuition. "I stayed on the Moon in the hope that I could learn something, something that I could bring back to Earth. I think what I got was this idea that there is something we are missing, something we have not yet understood about how the people of Earth are manipulated."

Fox feels a shiver run up his spine. "Dana, you're really creeping me out. I can live with seeing shapes in the shadows, but I feel better if you are always optimistically finding a way to light the darkness. Don't tell me all you can see is the dark and the shadows."

Dana takes Fox's hand and tugs him towards Doggett. "Come on. Lets get Doggett bedded down. Its almost time for dinner." Dana is ready to take refuge in the peace of mind that comes from work and the necessities of life. But she knows that like Fox, she is obsessed with the truth and her own duty to serve it. Particularly if she is the only person on Earth who has been given the gift of what she now knows. How could she ever abandon the responsibility of finding a way to share her knowledge with the world? And it might even be fun trying to get Fox to accept the truth, a truth that even Fox thinks is just too strange.

As they lift Doggett off the couch, Dana sees him as sleeping humanity, with Mulder tugging at one end and Dana holding up the other. Dana tries to find a faith in the idea that humanity will wake up.

The End, for now.

(Continues in Part Three of the Trilogy: Fly Paper – X Seven - Moon Reyes)


End file.
